My Turn To Drive
by JoeyJoBobJunior
Summary: COMPLETE! My first ever fan-fic so please be merciful! When Judy gets the Squad Cruiser into an accident, the only other squad car available is just fit for Nick. There's just one problem. Nick hasn't driven in 15 years. Laugh along as Nick and Judy get into the craziest car chase in the history of Zootopia.. BIG UPDATE: Chapter 1 completely rewritten.
1. Chapter 1: In Pursuit

My Turn To Drive 

Chapter 1 (Rewritten): A Game of Cat and Mice

 **Author's Note: YES! Much better! Sorry guys, but the original chapter was my first fan fic writing attempt (not counting scripting comics) and I felt that it was absolute garbage. I also noticed in the numbers that the drop off from Chapter one to the rest of the chapters was pretty huge. So while it's basically the same story and the chapter ends the same way, I felt it needed a lot more humor and much better pacing and most importantly, fun. Enjoy.**

Harold Housecat was a simple store clerk. He owned a small convenience store near the corner of Elk and Mane in the Downtown District. It was a simple, easy life. He was considered a friend to most in the neighborhood and got along well with all species. It's a great shame then, that this morning's usual, easy routine was interrupted by a bunch of tiny street thugs known as the "Murine Corps". They took it upon themselves to trash his place. Crawling all over the other customers feet and getting into the fermented fruit juice. Harold tried his best to make them leave, but when he threatened to call the cops on them, that's when they decided to attack.

Now, poor Harold is on the run. Speeding his car down Pawpad drive while being pursued by a mean, menacing, mob of mice in tiny cars. It's a good thing for him then, that ZPD's finest, Judy Hopps and ZPD's...not so finest, Nick Wilde were ready. Tailing behind them in pursuit with sirens blaring.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday" Nick observed from his passenger seat.. "Mice chasing a cat!"

"Not now Nick!" Judy shouted from behind the wheel. She then got on the radio to dispatch. "Officer Judy Hopps to ZPD dispatch! We have a code 1101 in progress! We are pursuing a street gang of mice who are chasing down a citizen on PawPad Drive! Requesting assistance! Copy?"

"Copuh Foody! Help if on duh way!"

Judy looked puzzled. "Foody?"

Nick chimed in, "Sounds like Clawhauser's got his mouth stuffed with donuts again."

Meanwhile, Officers McHorn and Pennington are in their squad car and received a call from Clawhauser.

"Thiff is difpatch cawwing caw 54! Com in! Offah."

McHorn wasn't pleased. He got on the radio. "Clawhauser?"

"Yef?"

"Chew, swallow, then talk!"

Clawhauser quickly gulped down his apple fritter and proceeded to talk again. "Sorry, Car 54. Car 4416 is in need of assistance with a pursuit. Copy?"

"Copy!" Replied McHorn and he then got the radio to Judy and Nick. "Car 54 to Car 4416. We are here to assist."

"Copy!" Judy replied. "Please try to set up a road block ahead of the pursuit. Glue strips advisable. Copy?"

"Copy that!" McHorn stated and he hung up. He then looked over at his partner Pennington. "Soooo ummm... you talked to your folks about us yet?

Pennington kept her eyes on the road while driving and talked nervously. "W-well...no. Not yet! I'm really nervous about this!"

McHorn was a bit upset. "I don't get what the big deal is? I'm a rhino, you're an elephant. Who cares?"

"They care!" Francine shouted. "They're very traditional and want me to have children. Look, can we talk about this some other time? And PLEASE don't tell anyone about us being...y'know."

"Fine!" McHorn huffed and their ride to the road block was met with awkward silence.

Harold Housecat was swerving all over the road with the mice in hot pursuit. One of the mice shouted "We'll teach him to try and protect his business!" The mouse then jumped out his his car and grabbed onto Mr. Housecat, putting him into a huge panic. He ended up driving onto the sidewalk dodging pedestrians left and right and running over the hoof of a giraffe walking by.

Back at ZPD headquarters, Chief Bogo was watching the chaos happen on a news feed from his office. "This is a disaster." he said to himself. "And the third such rodent attack in two weeks!"

Clawhauser came into Bogo's office. "Chief? Research says they may have something."

"Good!" Bogo claimed. "I'll check it out at once!"

Bogo went down to the lab area and met with the head of research. A German shepherd named Hans with an incredibly stereotyped accent to match. Hans greeted Bogo with a smile. "Greetings, mein gud chief! Ve may have a new trap to help you wit your rrrrodent problem!"

"This better be good." Bogo huffed.

"No problems Herr chief!" Our boys at the lab have been kind enough to give me a...how you say?...Prototype! Yes." He then uncovered a cloth set on the table to reveal a plastic prototype of his mouse trap.

"It ees a bit of a...whats ees dat word?...A 'Rude Goldfish' machine! Watch carefully!"

"I'm watching." Bogo replied.

"Just turn ze crank which snaps ze plank und kicks the marble right down ze chute. Now watch it roll und hit ze bowl which knocks ze ball in ze rub-a-dub-tub which flips the man into ze pan und...vait a minute?! ZISS IS A BOARD GAME!"

Bogo faceplams. Hans is furious. "SHTUPEED LAB BOYS! QUIT VASTIEENK MY TIME VIT YER JOKES!"

Meanwhile, Nick and Judy are still on the chase and figuring out how to get Harold off the sidewalk. Nick hangs himself out the window with a fishing net. "Get in close!" he shouts to Judy.

Judy gets the car up to the sidewalk and Nick swings at a mouse on a motorcycle, but he's too fast for the fox. Defeated, he gets back in the car.

"Did you catch one?!" Judy asked impatiently.

"Sorry! No dice...errr...mice." He then feels his smart phone buzz. He opens it and flicks his finger a few times. "But I did just catch a Charmouser!"

Judy scorned Nick. "You KNOW there's no playing 'Pokemammal GO' while on duty!"

Harold managed to finally get off the sidewalk, but still had a ton of mice in hot pursuit, nearly causing accidents in their wake.

"This is an absolute mess!" Judy told Nick. With a devilish grin, Nick replied "well Carrots, you could say it's a 'CATastrophe'."

Judy rolled her eyes at the awful pun Nick made. "UGH! Will you stop?!"

"Sorry Fluff." Nick replied and they got back to watching the carnage in front of them as they were chasing the mice.

Judy thought out loud. "I wonder why there are so persistent? Do they not see the cops trailing them?! Are they blind?!"

"At least three of them, I'm betting." Nick answered.

Judy was getting upset and gripping the steering wheel tighter.

"And you should see how they run!" Nick joked and then sang a little. " _See how they run!_ "

Judy was getting really upset. "Enough already!" she shouted to Nick.

Nick couldn't help but add another. "What's the matter Carrots? Are my mice puns too...'cheesy'?"

Judy had enough. She looked over at Nick to yell at him only to see his face covered in horror as he stared ahead. "RABBIT! LOOK OUT!" Nick screamed.

Judy turned her head in time just to see the cargo undercarriage of the semi truck they were about to smash into at full speed.


	2. Chapter 2: Wreck-It Judy

My Turn To Drive

Chapter 2

Wreck-It Judy

Nick had a split second to react. While still belted in, he reached his paws out to Judy as best he could and managed to yank her top half down just before the top of the cruiser smashed into the truck. He ducked as best he could as the impact of hitting the side of the tall truck ripped the entire top off the roof of the cruiser. Side windows were shattered apart as the entire top half peeled off like a banana skin. The bottom of the cargo section of the truck was just barely high enough to touch the hood of the squad car as it scraped across to the other side. Judy was already hitting the brakes as best she could and the car spun around for a brief second. Then, there was silence.

"Judy! Are you okay?!" Nick gasped. Nick tended to only use her first name when he really worried for her safety. "I-I'm fine I think." She muttered back. "Don't sit up just yet!" Nick shouted as he wiped as broken much glass off Judy's seat as he could. "I...I don't know what happened." Judy mumbled. Still in shock. "I swear I only looked at you for a second!"

"A second is all it takes" a deep voice replied to her. Nick and Judy looked to the drivers side and then up a bit. There, stood Officer McHorn. It's hard to miss him. The large, gruff rhino stood quite a bit taller than Nick or Judy. He and Officer Francine Pennington arrived in their van just moments earlier and managed to catch the mice with large glue strips laid out on the road ahead. "Are you two okay?" McHorn spoke with an air of concern. Judy was still in shock. "Y-Yeah. I'm think I'm fine". Nick seemed to still be his old self. "Outside of pulling glass shards out of my butt for the rest of the day, I think I'll man-"

"I DON'T WANNA HEAR ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR STUPID JOKES!" Screamed Judy. She was really upset with him, but mostly upset with herself. She can't believe she made such a grievous error. Nick cringed in the corner of his seat. His ears were down and he had a look of both fear and guilt upon him.

Mchorn tried to ease her out of her current state. "Calm down Judy. Mistakes happen. But don't worry about those mice, we got 'em. Francine!" McHorn shouted at his partner. "Get out of the car already!We need them and their cars taken off the glue strips!"

"I-I'm not going anywhere near those mice!" Shouted Francine. Living up the stereotype of elephants being scared of small rodents. McHorn sighed and calmly talked to Nick and Judy. "I'm sorry guys. I have to get back. An ambulance will be here in seconds so sit tight". McHorn walked away. Shouting back at his partner. "Frannie bay-I mean, Francine! C'mon now! We gotta get this mess cleaned up so traffic can move!"

Judy just sat there. Silently staring out, watching Mchorn pick up the cars off the glue strips with their passengers still in the vehicles while Mr. Housecat was talking to Francine who was keeping her distance from the trapped mice. The mice tried shooting at McHorn, but their bullets were tinier than fleas and with McHorn's thick hide, they just bounced right off. McHorn just chuckled. "Stop it! That tickles."

Nick, still cringing in his seat corner, softly spoke up. "I'm so sorry Hopps." Nick tended to have a pattern of names for his bunny partner. "Carrots" was the most often-used term. Mostly when just being friendly or joking. "Fluff" when being a bit flirty or teasing her. "Judy" when he was scared or worried about her. "Rabbit" when in a full blown panic or as of right now, "Hopps" when he knows he screwed up royal. "I should have focused on my job instead of making some stupid puns."

Judy looked over at Nick. She felt a bit guilty for the way she shouted at him. Deep down she knew it wasn't his fault. "Nick" she said softly. "If we got in an accident for every stupid joke you made, we would have been dead months ago."

Nick unfolded himself and got his smile back, which Judy was glad to see. He sat up and finally gave a good look at the scene. The windows and roof were completely gone. Shards of glass were all over the inside of the car and on the road. The roof itself was laying on the side of the road as well. "Well, at least we now we might have a convertible!" The sly fox mused.

"NIIICK!" The bunny shouted back.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Nick replied back and quickly went back into cringe mode.


	3. Chapter 3: New Car, New Driver

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: After looking at the first two chapters, I realized they were too short and the format really doesn't go well for long paragraphs. So, I'm adding as much as I can and keeping the paragraphs one to two sentences each unless I need to go into more detail. Sorry, I'm new at this.**

Chapter 3  
New Car, New Driver

Hours later, Nick and Judy were sitting in Chief Bogo's office. As usual, they were seated together in one large chair that made them look minuscule. As if a child had left their small plush toys sitting on a large sofa.

"I swear, every time I'm in old buffalo butt's office I feel like I've been hit with a shrink ray." Nick remarked. Judy responded "I think it's designed this way to intimidate the officers."

"Actually, it's designed this way because the previous chief was an elephant." Bogo snorted as he entered the office. Nick and Judy quickly sat up in their chair and remained still.

"However, it suits me just fine if you're so interested. It let's me tower above my subordinates." He said with a smile. It's true. The big, burly, buffalo loved making the other officers feel a bit nervous in this room. Judy and Nick were in it often enough to know that once you're sitting at his desk, you need to sit down and shut up.

"I assume you two are alright since you're here and out of the hospital?" He asked. "Yeah." Nick replied. "Outside of me still picking some tiny glass shards out of my tail, we got out of it with only some minor scratches."

"I'm a bit shaken up, but otherwise fine, sir." Judy added.

"I wish I could say the same for the other driver." Bogo explained. "He got a neck and shoulder injury. Nothing too major."

Judy put her paws to her face. "Oh no!" She gasped. "This is all my fault!" Nick put his paw on her shoulder for comfort.

"On the contrary." Bogo replied. "Cameras show the driver ran a red light. What's more, our traffic dispatch wasn't able to secure the road ahead to keep incoming drivers safe. You are not at fault officer Hopps. At the speed he was going, there was nowhere to swerve."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." Judy said in a sad tone.

Nick tried cheering her up. "Well, you can always blame me some more and punch me a few times. I'm getting kinda used to it by now." He got a chuckle out of her and they both felt better.

Bogo added. "Now, about the car..."

"WE'RE GETTING A CONVERTABLE!" Nick shouted as he jumped to his feet. Bogo just glared intensely at him. A stare that could burn a hole right through the fox.

"..."

"I'M SHUTTING UP!" Nick sat down as fast as he could and hid himself slightly behind Judy.

"You better for your sake." Bogo replied. "Your current vehicle is being sent in for repair. As you know Hopps, the cruiser was built specifically with you in mind."

"A regular rabBat-Mobile." Nick whispered to Judy, which she reward him with an elbow to the ribs.

Bogo continued. "Because of this, we have no other car for you outside of that slow-moving traffic cart. However, you two, well you in particular Judy, have proven yourself too valuable to the force to just be left to traffic duty. With that in mind, there is a squad car perfectly suited to Nick's size."

Nick and Judy both looked at each other for a second and back to Bogo. "You want HIM to drive?" Exclaimed Judy pointing at Nick.

"Heeeey!" Nick replied. He felt a bit insulted.

"Not really, but it's not like you have a choice." Bogo explained.

"HEEEEY!"

Judy explained herself. "No offense Nick. It's just...I've been the only driver since we've teamed up and I've never seen you drive even once. I'm just not sure how comfortable I'd be."

Nick spoke up in his best "Crane Man" impression. "I'll have you know I'm an excellent driver. Yeah, definitely. Definitely an excellent driver."

Bogo interrupted. "If you two are done, go see officers Wolf and Stein in Lot C. They will assign Officer Wilde his new vehicle. DISMISSED!"

Nick and Judy left the office and walked down the hall on their way to Lot C. "Can you believe it? My own car!" Nick said excitedly.

"Yeah." Judy said nervously. Also, she still felt guilty about how she treated Nick at the accident. "I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. It wasn't your fault."

"Heey, now, fluff." Nick replied. "I know how irritating I can be sometimes. Don't worry about it."

Just then, McHorn walked by. Nick decided to follow him for a moment. "Now if you'll excuse me Carrots, I have someone else to irritate. I'll catch up with you in Lot C." Nick then headed over to McHorn.

"McHorn! My man! Horn-Dog! The Hornmeister!"

McHorn turned back around and glared at Nick. "What do you want Wilde?"

Nick gave McHorn an innocent look of awe. Like a child wanting an autograph from his hero. "I just wanted to personally thank you and Francine for helping save our butts today. Those mice would have gotten away if it wasn't for you two."

McHorn gave a smile. "No problem".

Feeling he got McHorn's guard down, Nick pressed on as he wanted to satisfy his curiosity on something he had overheard at the accident. "Soooo...how are things between you and …...'Frannie-Baby?'"

With only one arm, McHorn grabbed Nick by the scruff of his shirt and pinned him into the wall. Nick was in fear of his life.

McHorn glared at him intensely. "Now listen up and listen good. You did not hear me say that. You did not hear me say anything. Me and Francine are just good friends. You will NOT repeat what you thought you heard to anyone else. Got it?!"

Nick was trembling. "Yeah! Yeah! I got it!" McHorn put him down gently.

Nick patted McHorn on the knee. "L-Look. I didn't say that to make fun. I totally support you guys being...y'know."

McHorn looked down at Nick with a smirk. "Well, of course YOU would. But as I said, nothing's going on. Understood?"

"Understood" Nick replied and they separated as Nick went back to heading towards Lot C.

"What a keratin cretin." He thought."What did he mean? 'Of course, I would?'" He pondered. He decided that for his own safety, he'd keep McHorn and Pennington's inter-species relationship a secret.

Except to a certain dumb bunny.


	4. Chapter 4: Mr Wilde's Wild Ride

Chapter 4 

Mr. Wilde's Wild Ride

 **Author's Note: In my version of Zootopia, the word "roach" is the replacement of the word "b#$ch" since a fox calling another fox's mother a technical word for female canine doesn't exactly sound very insulting, they instead went for one of the lowest forms of life. Also, sorry about the length of this chapter. I had only two scenes in mind but the Finnick scene went on longer than I thought it would.**

Nick was as excited as a kid on Christmas. He circled around gawking at his new squad car while Judy looked on impatiently.

"It's mine! All mine! Look at this beauty. She's a classic!" Nick exclaimed excitedly.

I was a "classic" in the sense that it was a very old model. A gas-guzzling clunker possibly out of the late 70's with more rust than the Titanic and more dents than the losing side of a demolition derby. Nick didn't care though. It was HIS squad car and that's all that mattered.

"You're actually excited over...THIS?!" Judy exclaimed with her arms outstretched towards the vehicle.

Nick started to climb into the vehicle. "I think someone's a bit jealous."

"Jealous of what?!" Judy huffed. "This car looks like it came out of the old T.V. Show, 'Strewsky and Clutch'. It was probably made in the same year!"

"OH MY GOSH! CARROTS! LOOK!" Nick shouted from inside the car. Judy scrambled to get into the passenger seat to see what the big deal was.

"What?! What happened? Are you okay?!" Judy yelled as she got into the car. It was then she could see what Nick was happily pointing at.

"Fuzzy Dice!" Nick squealed with glee. Judy was peeved. "Really?" was all she could add.

He started to play with the dice. Slapping them back and fourth, squeezing them gently. He then looked over at Judy and gave her flirtatious look while touching the dice suggestively. "You want to touch them Fluff? Come. Give my dice a little squeeze."

Judy had enough. She reached up and grabbed the bottom of both dice. With a mean look at Nick, she proceeded to squeeze the dice hard until the cotton burst out from the stitching. This made Nick cringe and wince. "Get this car moving or YOUR 'dice' are next." She said calmly.

"Yes Ma'am!" Nick replied and put the keys into the ignition. It took a few tries before the old engine finally turned over. "Do we have any 8-track tapes in here?" Nick asked as Judy finally realized she was right about how old this clunker was. She got into her seat and buckled in as best she could. She was so small that she couldn't even see the top of the dashboard or out the window. She was fearing that this was a huge mistake.

"Just get moving" she sighed.

"She thing Carrots. Now, the brake is on the left. Right?" Nick asked. Judy looked both stunned and scared.

"Just kidding fluff. IT hasn't been THAT long."

"Just how long has it been?" Judy pondered.

Nick gave it some thought. "Well, I got my license at age 18 and that was just before Finnick got his van. Once he had the van, he wouldn't let me go near the steering wheel, sooo...age 19."

Judy's jaw dropped. It's been just over a year since Judy and Nick first teamed up. He was 33 at the time and now was 34 and closing on 35. "You mean you haven't driven a vehicle in over 15 years?!"

"Don't worry Fluff." Nick said calmly. "It's just like riding a bicycle. You never forget how."

Judy was more scared than ever. "W-well remember, the first thing you want to do is back out slowly. Never tap the gas untiAAAHH!"

Nick slammed the car into reverse and almost hit Wolf and Stein the the process. Judy's face slammed into the bottom of her seat folding her in half. Nick then slammed the brakes and put the car into drive and hit the gas again. Judy's body started to squish into the Vinyl Upholstery.

The car flew out of the ZPD parking lot and onto the streets. Nick weaved in and out of traffic at high speeds while calmly putting in an 8-track cassette of the Roaring Stones. "So carrots, what's our first move?"

Judy, still being absorbed into the upholstery could barely speak, but managed to get out a few words.

"Slow."

"The"

" #$%"

"Down!" 

Nick apologized and slowed down. "Sorry Carrots. I guess I got a bit too excited."

Judy struggled to peel herself off the sticky vinyl. "Where did you learn to drive? A demolition derby?" 

"Okay, so I'm a bit rusty." Nick replied. "But I know where to go first. You need to see over the hood so we're gonna need a booster seat. We're heading to Finnick's place."

"Great". Judy sighed. "I get to ride around in a baby seat. Also, I'm not sure I want to see above the dash the way you drive."

An hour later, Nick and Judy managed to find Finnick's van. While he mostly lives in the same neighborhood, he has to park the van in various spots every day to avoid fines. Nick knocked on the back of the van only for Finnick to burst open the doors while swinging a bat."

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I TOLD YOU I DON'T WANT YOUR DAMN CUB SCOUT COOKIES!" Finnick shouted at the top of his lungs. Judy and Nick jumped back.

Finnick realized his mistake right away and looked excited to see Nick. "Nick, bro! It's been too long!" He raised his arms toward Nick.

"Great too see you again Finn!" Nick got down one one knee and hugged his old friend.

They then proceeded to sniff each others butts.

"Ah-Ha! I see you've been hanging out with Honey again. Nick said as he took a big sniff. "Also, you've been eating a lot of bananas."

"Doctor said I needed more potassium in my diet." Finnick whispered. "All I can smell on you is your uniform, blueberries, some cheap cologne and that bunny roach over there."

"Don't...call her.. a roach." Nick said quietly and angrily.

"Yeah. Whatever." Finnick huffed.

Judy had been hanging back near the squad car and pretended she hadn't heard that part of the conversation but was nonetheless upset. She kept it to herself however. She did have one question though. "Pardon me, but who's Honey?"

Finnick had his ears down and looked angry towards Judy. "None of your busine-" Nick cut him off.

"Honey is an old friend. She's a Honey Badger who's as good at the con game as I was. Are you two hitting it off pretty good?"

Finnick smiled. "Yeah. She's been a big help after my best friend decided to ditch me and join the other side of the law."

Nick bowed his head down "Finn..."

Finnick explained "Look. It is what it is. She's my partner in crime while she...(pointing towards Judy) is your partner in law enforcement. We're on opposite sides now."

Nick looked sad. "It doesn't have to be that way."

"Yes it does." Finnick growled with an angry tone. "It's the only way I know how to survive. Look! Just what the hell did you come here for anyway?!"

Judy interrupted the heated moment. "We're sorry to bother you Finnick, but we need to borrow your booster seat. I wrecked our squad car yesterday and as you can see, we have a loaner."

Finnick looked at the old heap. "Woah! That's a classic!"

"I know, right?" Nick said excitedly. "Do you know what make it is?"

If there was one thing Finnick knew about, it's classic cars. "It's a 1975 Muskrat GT. They got great horsepower."

"Oh trust me. I know." Said Judy. Thinking about the ridiculous speeding Nick was doing earlier. "Anyway, it's not my size, so Nick is driving and..."

Finnick was shocked. "Nick?! THIS Nick?!"

Nick outstretched his arms. "The one and only."

Finnick burst into laughter and rolled on the ground. "AAAHAHAHAHA! YOU ARE SO DEAD COTTON BUTT!"

Nick was getting angry. "Okay, I think that's enough."

Finnick, still chuckling talked to Judy. "Hee-hee! Did he ever tell you why I don't let him drive my van?"

"She doesn't need to know this." Nick said angrily.

Judy was curious. "Because the van is your baby?"

"Because he had his own car...for about 20 seconds." Finnick said with a evil grin.

"WHAT?!"

Nick tried to calm Judy down. "It's not what you think! I drove it off the lot and this guy just came out of nowhere!"

"Yeah sure" Said Finnick.

Nick pointed at Finnick accusingly. "You weren't there!"

Judy massaged her temple in frustration. "Can we just get the stuff and go already? We have to be back at the station before five"

Moments later, Nick was packing the trunk with extra items while Judy was strapping the baby booster seat in. Nick headed to the back of the van to say goodbye to Finnick. The tension was a little bad now between them. It was obvious they were starting to drift apart, what with Nick being a police officer and Finnick still scamming to make ends meet. At one point, they had been as close as brothers and Nick did not want that relationship to end.

"So ummm...thanks. Y'know, for the stuff." Nick said quietly.

Finnick ignored him and kept sorting. "Remember it's just a loan. Me and Honey need those things if we wanna make any money out here. I can just do the toddler bit for now as long as I don't talk."

There was a moment of awkward silence between them. Nick finally spoke up. "Y'know, she's a great gal once you get to know her. I mean, you liked it when she hustled me into working with her."

"Yeah and then that roach took you from me and I've been having t-" Finnick couldn't finish his sentence as Nick grabbed him by the neck and slammed him to the ground. Nick was furious and had the claw of his thumb pushing deep into Finnick's neck.

Nick had snapped. "I SAID DON'T CALL HER A ROACH!" He screamed. It was then he remembered when McHorn had snapped at him in a similar manner. He realized that McHorn wasn't trying to protect himself or his reputation, but to protect Pennington from any harm that might come to her if word got out about their inter-species relationship. He snapped out of it and saw what he was doing to Finnick and quickly let him go.

"Finn. I'm so, so sorry!" Nick said softly. "It's just...she's my best friend in the whole world."

Finnick coughed a bit. "So was I."

Nick tried to lighten the mood. "Okay, Tony Bark. Let's drop the drama down a little."

Finnick just got angrier. "You jabbed your claw into my throat. You don't get to make jokes. Get the hell out of my van."

Nick started to back off his ears were down and he was feeling guilty about what he had done. "Look. I'm really sorry. I didn't mea-"

"NOW!" Finnick yelled.

Nick got out of the van and looked sadly back at Finnick. "Y'know. It's funny. I may not be the best driver, but you were the one that taught me in the first place. You taught me almost everything. At different times, you've been like a father, a brother and a son to me."

With a sad look in his eyes, Finnick said nothing and slammed the van door.

Judy rushed over to Nick. "Are you okay? I heard yelling but it seemed kinda personal so I didn't want to interfere." She went to grab his arm but he pulled away.

"It's fine. I-I'm fine. Get in the car." Nick climbed in and Judy followed in the passenger side. She looked over at Nick who seemed hurt.

Judy thought of what Nick said back at the gondola all that time ago. "Never let them see that they get to you."

"He hates me doesn't he?" She asked quietly.

Nick tried to change the subject. "H-Hey! I didn't show you what else we got!" He reached into the back seat to grab some things. We got a baby blankey if you wanna take a nap, a bottle complete with nipple and a pacifier!"

Judy chuckled. "No way I'm taking a nap with you driving. I think I'll pass on the other stuff too. Now that the test drive's over, let's get back to the lot."

Nick remembered to back out slowly this time. "I got one more stop to make. How's a late lunch sound?"

"No."

"My treat."

"We're already late getting back Nick! Our shift is over!"

"I've got juicy office gossip."

"...Let's roll."


	5. Chapter 5: Of Hustles and Gossip

Chapter 5

Of Hustles and Gossip

Nick parked the squad car in the back of the restaurant known as "The Biscuit Bowl". It mainly serves canines as their specialty is dog biscuits, but they do have a good variety of baked goods, jerky treats, soups and salads. While Judy was still struggling on how to get out of her child seat with the safety locks on the straps, Nick was digging through some items he got from Finnick in the trunk.

"Stay there for a sec Carrots, I got something for you." Nick said. Judy was curious as to what. He returned with a makeup case and some clothes.

"I'm not needing any makeup right now, thank you." Judy scoffed.

"It's not for you, Fluff." Nick replied. "It's for me."

Nick put an ugly, loose sweater over his police uniform and proceeded to mark silver streaks around his muzzle. He then used some mascara under his eyes to give himself dark circles. He topped it off by putting on a dusty old fisherman's hat. He then handed Judy a blouse and ladies sweater. "Put these over your police uniform."

"What on earth are you up to?" Judy asked.

"Seniors get a 20% discount here." Nick replied.

Judy decided to go with the act and proceeded to put on the blouse and sweater. "They're gonna catch you the moment you have to show I.D. Y'know."

"I doubt that." Nick replied as he showed her a fake I.D. "Oliver Wilde: Age 82" Nick explained that was his grandfathers card. He just fudged with the expiration date.

Judy thought he was being ridiculous. "I can't believe you'd go through all this for twenty percent."

"It's more than that." Nick said. "I'll explain once inside." He got outside of the car and proceeded over to Judy's side while walking with a cane and opened the door. "I'll also need you to hold my hand."

Judy feigned a flirtatious pose. "Oh my!" She said, batting her eyes. "This lunch just got better!"

Nick chuckled."Don't flatter yourself, Carrots. It's for balance. You'll be playing the role of my foster granddaughter."

Judy walked with Nick hand in hand as he stumbled along with the cane, faking a limp. Judy looked down at her blouse. "It's a nice blouse. A bit loose though. May I ask why you own this?"

"Let's just say There are some hustles I'm not too proud of." Nick explained as they entered the cafe.

Nick went up to the counter where a large, Siberian husky woman was working. "E-e-e-excuse me miss!" Nick said feigning an old man's scratchy voice. "My granddaughter and I would like a table."

"Your...granddaughter?" The husky said looking down at the bunny with an air of suspicion. 

"We're gonna get busted for sure!" Judy thought. 

"She's my foster granddaughter." Nick explained. "I adopted her mother many years ago. In fact, 'SNIFF!' This day is the anniversary of her passing."

Judy caught on and quickly whipped up some crocodile tears. She hugged onto Nick. "Oh Grampy! 'SOB!' You promised you wouldn't bring that up! I miss mommy so much!" She proceeded to feign sobbing some more.

The husky felt real guilty at this point. "Oh, I am SO sorry! Here. Let me get you a table!"

Nick pointed out the wall behind the husky to Judy. There were three pictures. One had Nick's mug, another had Finnick's face and the final one had Honey's profile. Underneath, it stated "Do not serve these customers. If seen, call ZPD immediately."

"That's reason number two." Nick whispered to Judy.

Nick chose a table near the exit and away from the crowd. Nick ordered a soup and dog biscuits while Judy had a salad with carrot juice.

"I'm amazed. You guys even managed to get kicked out of an establishment that serves dogs." Judy whispered.

"'Canines' Fluff. I find the word 'dog' very boorish." Nick replied. "Not all hustles go as planned. It's a shame too. We really liked this place."

"So what's the big gossip?! Judy asked.

"Well you wasted very little time." Nick chuckled.

"Just shut up and tell me." Judy said with a grin.

"Well, you did NOT hear this from me because McHorn will kill me. He almost did this afternoon."

"Why?"

"Well fluff, you remember our accident from this morning when you nearly got us killed?"

Judy looked angry. "You mean the one where YOU distracted me with a stupid joke?"

Nick grinned. "Well, I guess your ears stopped working after the wreck because I picked up on McHorn calling Pennington 'Frannie-Baby'. They're an item!"

"Get out!" Judy exclaimed.

Nick started to get up from the table. "Okay. I know when I'm not wanted."

Judy laughed "Sit down! You know what I mean."

Nick sat down just as a possum waiter arrived with their soup and salad. Nick grabbed the waiters arm as he was starting to leave. "E-e-excuse me, young man!"

The waiter flicked Nick's hand off his sleeve. "Yes?" He replied.

Nick pointed at his bowl. "There are flies in my soup!"

"...and?"

"I specifically ordered the garden spider chowder."

The waiter quickly picked the bowl back up. "I am SO sorry sir! We'll get you your chowder right away."

"I never ask for garden spiders in my salad. If they don't cook them right, I end up with webbing on my greens." Judy joked. "So give me more details!"

"That's about it. I went to talk to him about it and he nearly killed me. He wants to keep it a secret. So our conversation here never happened." Nick explained as he chewed on a biscuit.

"I can understand." Judy said as she started playing with her fork and ignoring the salad. "Inter-species couples are considered VERY taboo. Illegal in some states."

"Yeah." Nick said as he looked back near the kitchen. Waiting for his chowder.

Judy poked at her salad. There was a question she had been wanting to ask Nick for a long time and this had been the perfect opportunity. She chewed her salad a bit and then spoke up. "Sooo...what do YOU think of inter-species couples?"

"I think it's very brave of them to go through with it." Nick said. This made Judy's ears perk straight up. "I also think it's VERY dangerous." Judy's ears dropped a bit. "It's not as big a deal for predators like Finn and Honey as prey could care less if we inter-mingle. The less of us the better, but different species of prey and ESPECIALLY predator and prey are considered a major sin. Prey tend to like to keep things 'pure'".

"That's a specist thing to say!" July said. "Not all prey are like that."

"True enough Fluff." Nick replied. "But I imagine you're in the minority. Take for example, two nights ago. Remember when we worked real late and I walked you home for safety?"

"Yeah?"

"You gave me a friendly hug goodbye and after you walked inside I got spat on...twice."

Judy started so sob. "Oh Nick! I didn't know! I am so, so sorry!"

Nick just chewed on another biscuit. "I'd cry myself, but it would ruin my mascara."


	6. Chapter 6: Labels

Chapter 6: Labels

 **Author's note: In my stories, I want to keep Nick and Judy as the best of friends. Having a lot of fun adventures but without any romantic tension getting in the way as I prefer comedy and world-building to romance. This chapter was written to help nip any future romance in the bud (for now) and I personally think it's my best writing on the story so far.**

The possum waiter arrived with the chowder. He noticed Judy was in tears. "I am terribly sorry about your mother." He added.

"Thank you young sir!" Nick said as the waiter walked off.

"It's not fair!" Judy sobbed "W...They should be allowed to be themselves and be happy in each others company without anyone judging them!"

Nick shrugged. "It is the way it is carrots. As much as we wanna be otherwise, we're just labels to others."

Judy looked confused "Labels?"

Nick explained some more. "What WE are. I'm a fox. I have red fur and a bushy tail. Nothing I can do can change that. When people see me, they know NOTHING about me, but they decide to add labels to me anyway. 'Predator, sly-fox, con-artist, thief.' They don't take the time to see the REAL me. Then there's you."

"Me?" Judy asked.

"You're a bunny. Despite being one of the most decorated officers on the ZPD, People see a cu-sorry, 'adorable', naive, tiny, innocent, harmless prey."

"That's usually their biggest mistake" She added.

"True Carrots, true." Nick said. "But that's just it, we are NOT those things. I may be a sly fox, but I'm also an officer, a good friend, caring, handsome and have a great sense of humor."

"The jury's still out on those last two."

"Ha. Ha" He scoffed. "That's the sad thing. We are all have friends, family, loved ones. We care, we cry, we laugh, we enjoy a good meal, a good cup of coffee to wake us up, we dance, we sing, we love. We have all have so many wonderful things in common, but we still label each other. Why?"

Judy stayed silent.

"Because the one greatest thing we have in common, is fear. We fear what we don't understand, we fear trying new things. We fear understanding things outside of our comfort zone. We fear to look past the bigoted stereotypes we've been labeled with to see the good in others. Both of us have been guilty of that sin."

Judy replied while eating her salad. "True. When I first met you, I thought you were nothing but a sneaky con-artist."

Nick chuckled "And you were right! I robbed you of $20 for a jumbo pop I re-molded into several dozen pops and made a killing. Then, I put labels on you. Calling you a naive, carrot-farmer who'll never be a real cop. I was VERY wrong."

"I was wrong too!"

"Not at the time." Nick replied. "I gave myself the label society wanted me to have. You saved me Fluff. You saw past that and found the real me even I didn't know was there. However, even with all my accomplishments since then, I'm still seen as a sly fox. So, I do what I always do...I change the label."

"Change the label?" Judy questioned?

"Yeah. You went in to Jumbo's Cafe to spy on me, but instead of a sly fox, I made you see an innocent, caring dad just wanting to buy a jumbo pop for his sweet, elephant-loving son."

"I remember quite well" Judy growled. "You still owe me twenty bucks."

"Fifteen." Nick added. "There's also the case of you and me. Even if my face wasn't on the most unwanted list, you and I eating dinner in our casual attire would get stares and possibly harassment."

Judy was confused. "We rarely ever do!" She argued.

"Carrots, you forget we usually hang out in the day in our uniforms. We are unintentionally changing the label. Instead of seeing us as fox/bunny friends or, 'heaven forbid' a couple, they see us as partners on the police force and most people aren't dumb enough to harass the police. How often do we hang out outside of our uniforms?"

"Rarely" She admitted. "And we do get stares sometimes."

"Or spat on." Nick added. Judy cringed a bit.

"Then there's this little number." Nick says still pointing at his old man costume. "If I had come in as myself, you probably would have had to arrest your own partner and we would both have been thrown out."

"Would have made me laugh." Judy said with a teasing grin.

"But look at me. I got a twenty percent discount, I'm eating at a place I'm technically banned from AND, reason number 3, they are treating me like a prince. All I had to do, was change the label."

Judy finished her salad and rest her chin on her hands. "'Change the label' Hunh? Cute. You know what I think?"

Nick looked at her confused.

"I think you're a coward."

Nick was a bit taken back. "Excuse me?"

"When I came to the academy, no one, NOT ONE PERSON took me seriously or thought I could make it as a cop. Not even my dad. Just as you said, they all slapped those same labels on me you mentioned before. 'Too small, weak, naive, harmless.' I worked ten times as hard as they did and proved to them, my parents, everyone that I was not only a real cop but a damn good one. I changed the label just by being true to myself and you can too!"

Nick chuckled. "You forget one important thing fluff. You have the privilege of being prey. No one sees you as a threat."

"I use that to my advantage" She added. "I mean it Nick. The more good you do in this world, the more people will eventually see you as I do. You'll change that label without having to put on a stupid costume or phony demeanor."

Nick smiled. "That's what I love about you fluff. Always an optimist. Me? I'm a realist. I see things for the way the are. Just like with McHorn and Pennington."

"We're finally getting back to that?" Judy said thankfully.

"Like I said before. I wish them all the best in the world. I really, really do. However, it's not going to work."

Judy looked shocked. "WHY?!"

"There's just too much going against them. First, the parents. They more than likely want their child to produce offspring so they can have grandkids. Something a rhino can't provide. Not to mention most parents have a hard time accepting anyone for their little daughter, much less someone of a different species."

"You don't know that!" Judy argued.

"Really? It's been over a year since we've been partners. Just partners. Just close friends. Does your mom or dad, y'know, the one with the fox taser? Do they even know I exist?"

Judy looked away in shame. "Your mother loves me."

"That's because my mother knows all that you've done for me and I prepared her in advance before you saw her. Second, society itself. Even though neither of them are predators, people will see their relationship as 'impure' and 'evil'. Like you said, many see it as taboo and its' even illegal in many states."

"Not here." Judy argued "And why the hell should they care what they think?!"

"Because third, if McHorn truly gave a damn about Pennington, he wouldn't put her in harms way!" Nick said angrily, but quietly as to not alert the nearby waiters or patrons. "There are very bigoted nut jobs out there who would see their relationship as a threat to their stupid view of the world and possibly hurt or kill one of them! That's probably why he damned near killed me when I found out about it. I can only imagine the grief or guilt McHorn would have if Pennington was killed just because they were a couple."

Judy was starting to see what this really was about and she was gonna fight for Francine and for herself. "And what if they both were so in love that they decided it was worth the risk?! I mean, my God! They risk their lives out on the streets every single damn day helping make the world a better place. Does it really make a difference if they risk their lives for their own happiness too?!"

Nick looked up from his chowder bowl and at Judy. Tears were starting to roll down her eyes. He froze for a second, realizing just what was going on.

"Are we still talking about McHorn and Pennington?" He questioned. She just looked away, wiping her face. Nick got up from the table, still in character walking and with his cane, he went over to Judy. He put his arm around her and kissed her on the forehead.

"I had a feeling this would eventually come up." He said "Look carrots, you...are my savior. You saw in me what no one else could. You think me working hard to get through the police academy and becoming a cop was my dream? It's a wonderful thing, but it's not." 

Judy was shocked. "What?!"

"Following you, being your partner, your very best friend, joking with you, teasing you, making you laugh and driving you crazy. THAT'S my dream and I'm blessed enough to get to live it every day. What we have right now, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."

He put his forehead against hers and quietly said "I love you Judy Hopps, but I'm not IN love with you. I'm sorry." Judy took her napkin and pressed it against her face. She was trembling.

Nick tried to lift her spirits and went into his old man voice. "Now enough of this gosh-dern mushy-mush young lady! Why don't I treat my granddaughter to some nice carrot cake?"

Still sniffling, Judy removed the napkin and smiled. " 'Sniff!' Yeah. That would be nice right about now 'grampy'!" she said mockingly.

Nick took his cane and started heading towards the bathroom. "First, I gotta go 'mark my territory' so to speak. Be right back!" On the way to the bathroom, he stopped the waiter. "I'm sorry to bother you again youngin'! " Nick said while pretending to lick his gums. "But it's also my granddaughter's birthday. She's far too shy to mention it herself."

The waiter nodded with a wink. "Ahh I understand! Well, it looks like she needs some cheering up. Would she like the carrot cake for her free dessert?"

"You read my mind" Nick replied.

"If I may ask, how old is she?" Nick whispered the age into his ear, then headed off into the bathroom.

As he came out, he could see the staff surrounding Judy and singing to her. "Happy, happy birthday from all of us to yoooou! Happy, happy birthday! May all your dreams come true!" Judy's face was buried in embarrassment. The small cake given to her had the number 40 written in big numbers.

A perky, but not too bright ferret waitress was the last to leave the table. "Happy 40th birthday Miss?" Judy whispered into her ear. The waitress looked confused, but carried on. "Miss 'Fugyoo'! You don't look a day over 25!"

"I AM 25." She growled quietly under her breath as the waitress was leaving. She looked over and saw Nick with the biggest grin on his face. She wanted to be angry with him, but she just couldn't. Her frown turned into a smile and she let out the best laugh she had all day.

"You son of a roach!" 


	7. Chapter 7: Phone Calls

Chapter 7: Phone Calls

Nick and Judy drove back to the ZPD station. He parked the car in the garage just in time for the back bumper to fall off. As Judy jumps out of the passenger side, she kisses the ground.

"Sweet, sweet pavement!" She exclaims while giving the ground another kiss.

Nick gets out on his side and pockets his keys. "You're being over dramatic again, fluff!"

"Over dramatic?!" Judy fumes. "You drove WAY past the speed limit..."

"The speedometer's not working right."

"….drove OVER several mouse cars and UNDER a giraffe van..."

"It was a shortcut!"

"...and sped through THREE red lights!"

"They were yellow! They only turned red as I passed under."

Judy was pawing at her face in frustration. "Nick. You're supposed to YIELD at a yellow light! Do you know what yield means?!

Nick looked confused. "Wait! Are you sure? I thought you were supposed to speed up."

Judy was confused and angry. "What on earth would make you think that?!"

Nick explained. "Well, whenever I'm driving with Finn, he's always like 'Oh $# t! The lights yellow!' and hits the gas."

Judy had enough. "Okay, that's it! This weekend, we're taking the car out and I'm gonna help train you personally!"

Nick was happy "Aww! Thanks Fluff! I could really use your help to be honest. And don't worry! Tomorrow we'll take it easy and I'll park the car whenever possible and we'll just patrol on foot."

Judy was relieved. "Sounds great. You need to be more careful."

Nick grinned. "True. I got a baby bunny on board."

Judy chuckled. "You laugh, but that child seat's pretty comfortable."

They met up and chatted with Clawhauser a bit, then went to their respective locker rooms and got back into their civilian attire. Nick once again offered to walk Judy home.

"After what happened before, aren't you worried?" Judy asked.

"I'm more worried for you in the neighborhood you live in." Nick replied.

Judy loved how protective Nick was of her, even if it got in the way of their relationship going further. However, the subway ride to the apartments was met with awkward silence, especially for these two. Fifteen minutes went by without either of them saying a word. They kept themselves a seat apart to make it look like they weren't mingling together. Finally, Judy broke the silence.

She spoke quietly as not to alert those around them or any eavesdroppers. "Nick...about what you said in the restaurant."

Nick wasn't too keen on bringing that up again. "I really don't wanna talk about it."

Judy pushed on. "Is it that you don't...y'know...or you can't?"

"Does it make a difference?"

"Yes!"

Nick pinched his temple. "I just...I really like where we are now. Can we please change the subject?"

Judy's ears dropped and she looked away. "I'm sorry" she said in a soft, guilty tone.

"I'm sorry too." Nick added. The subway ride was silent from there on.

Nick followed Judy to the front of her building. She still lived in her derelict, old apartment building she first got. Sure the neighbors were noisy, but it was cheap and the tiny room reminded her of her tiny bedroom back in Bunnyburrow. It also allowed her to save up cash which she'd send home to help the family.

Nick finally spoke up. "Now here comes the worst part of my day. Saying goodbye until tomorrow."

Judy smiled. For all his shenanigans, he sometimes could say the sweetest things. She went to hug him and stopped herself. She remembered what happened the night before. "Oh. Right." She added and just gave him a small fist bump and he walked away. As she headed upstairs, she stopped to look out the window. Nick was walking to the bus stop to his place when out of the shadows of an ally, a panther followed behind him. She could see him carrying a baseball bat and slowly approaching Nick.

As Nick was walking towards the bus stop, he heard three things. Someone mumbling "Prey-loving filth!" Along with a thud and the clang of an aluminum baseball bat hitting the concrete. He turned to see a panther lying on the concrete with a tranquilizer dart in his back with the bat rolling off the sidewalk. He looked over at Judy's building only to catch a glimpse of a rabbit ear.

"Thanks Carrots" he said to himself as he walked onto the bus.

Judy went into her building. She could hear Bucky and Pronk yelling next door. She set the dart gun down on her table and sat on the edge of her bed, quietly sobbing. "It wasn't prey this time." She thought. "It was a predator!" What Nick said about society not accepting them was becoming true and she hated it. "I hate when he's right!" she said to herself. She tried to cheer herself up by listening to some music on her alarm radio.

The radio blared away. "YOU'RE LISTENING TO I-RON-E RADIO! ALL THE MUSIC YOU DON'T WANNA HEAR AT THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME! HERE'S A CLASSIC FROM CONNIE RATT!"

 _I can't make you love me...if you don't._

 _You can't make your heart feel something i-_

In a fit of anger, Judy yanked the alarm radio out of the wall and tossed it out the window. She pulled the covers over her, covered her head with her pillow and quietly wept. Of course, it didn't stop Bucky and Pronk from commenting.

"HEY! WHY DID THE BUNNY TOSS HER ALARM CLOCK OUT THE WINDOW?!"

"MAYBE SHE WANTED TO SEE TIME FLY?!"

"THAT JOKE STINKS!"

"NO! YOU STINK!"

"SHUT UP!"

"YOU SHUT UP!"

Nick arrived at his apartment. Under normal circumstances, it was a nice, one bedroom place. However, Nick managed to turn it into an absolute mess. Clothes were strewn everywhere and the kitchen trash was so piled over it could fill two more trash cans. He had no couch and despite it having a bed, he rarely used the bedroom outside of a closet and instead made his bed/couch out of several curled up blankets near the T.V. After twenty years of living on either the floor of a van or cold, hard concrete, He wasn't used to the softness of a mattress.

Nick didn't want to admit it, but he had been weeping a bit too. He loved Judy and much as she loved him, but he knew in his heart that anything more than friendship would put her in great danger and he'd be damned if he let anything happen to her. The incident with the panther just proved it to himself some more. "I hate it when I'm right". He said to himself. Against his better judgment, he did the one thing he always does when he's depressed. He picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hi Mom...Yeah. I know it's late, I...I just wanted to say 'hi'...No. No I haven't been crying...I'm not being defensive!...How can you possibly tell what someone who WAS crying sounds like?...The sniffles are from a cold...We had the talk today...Y'know, the one I've been trying to avoid?...I had to put her in the 'friend zone' so to speak...Mom!...Mom! I know you really like her but it's for her own safety! You don't know what it's like out there!...I did not do the same thing to you!...That was different! You couldn't afford me anymore! If I hadn't run away, child services would have come and I'd have never seen you again!...Yeah, if it wasn't for him, I'd have been worse off. Speaking of Finn, I'm really worried about him...We had a big fight. He hates Judy's guts and what's worse, I drove over to his van today to pick up some stuff and he has anti-prey propaganda all over!...No. I didn't tell Judy...Yes! I drove! Judy's car is in the shop. We had a bit of a fender bender this morning...I'm okay. Just a few scratches...I can drive fine! I...That was years ago!...That wreck wasn't my fault! The driver came out of nowhere!...Oh yeah? Good to hear. Is he a nice guy?...Ha! A bobcat?! ...I swear, you never cared what species you dated...I don't want to sound specist, but for your safety, just...just keep any dates pred okay?...I know that's not up to me, I just worry. So what's my new dad's name?...I'm kidding! I'm just glad you're finally getting out there and dating...I can't. You know why I can't no matter how I feel...It just..."SNIFF!" Dammit!...I know...I know...I'd do anything for her...Heh. Yeah, maybe...maybe someday...Thanks mom. It's good to hear your voice...Yeah...I love you too. I'll try to come out sometime next week...Of course I'll bring her...Love you. Goodbye."

He tapped the screen and ended the phone call. While he had his phone in his paw, he flipped through some pictures. He found the picture of his academy graduation. His mother and Judy by his side with Finnick standing below him acting all though and throwing fake gang signs. This made him chuckle. He flipped through some more pictures. Him and Finn kicking back with shades on. His "single dad" pic he'd show to cute vixens with Finn all dolled up in his baby stroller. These were before Judy entered into his life. Then, every pic had Judy in it. He couldn't even take a quick selfie without her jumping in from behind. No other pics of Finnick in over a year outside of the graduation photo. "This is my fault." He thought.

He sat on the rolled up blankets with his back against the wall. "Give me your worst, 'I-Ron-E radio." and he tapped on the app. It was No-Gout with "Don't squeak".

 _You and me_

 _We used to be together. Everyday together. Always_

 _I really feel, that I'm losing by best friend_

 _I can't believe this could be the end..._

"Of course." Nick said to himself and closed the app. He looked out the back of his apartment and looked down at the lot below. "That just might work!" He thought to himself and tried to get in contact with Finnick.

It was obvious Finnick was upset with him. He blocked Nick off of his phone and even blocked him off of Snoutbook and Yipper. He remembered an old 1-800 number still in use when they were running a failed business that supplied down and out preds with fake pictures that made them look successful. Nick was the photographer and Finn would fake being a child and Honey would fake being a wife to the client so their parents would think they were doing okay or they could use it for a resume. It didn't take off like they planned, but Finn forgot to close the account on the number and it could still be used.

"Hey big guy! It's Nick! Please don't hang up, I got some good news! Look. I was just looking over the parking lot at my place and remembered 'Hey! I don't have a car!' I know you don't like having to drive your van from place to place so why don't you just use my parking spot here? You can even use my mailbox if need be and when I get off work, maybe we could hang out a bit! I got a Pawstation 4 with Rabbit and Tank, Clovenwatch and Street Ferret 5: Ultra Turbo Hyper-Biting edition! I even got a room I'm not using!"

"Look...I'm sorry about what I did earlier. I took it too far, but...I don't like you saying those things about Judy. She's a great gal and I'd like us to hang out together. This stuff you got strewn all over the van, it scares me. I know that's not you! You're better than that! I just...I want my big bro back. If you're interested in the spot, give me a call. If not, I'll...I'll leave you alone. Goodbye."

Nick hung up the phone and put it on the charger. He then took off his clothes, circled around his blankets a few times and finally laid down and went to sleep.

 **Lyric Credits:**

 **"I can't make you love me" By Bonnie Raitt**

 **"Don't Speak" By No Doubt**

 **Next Chapter: Nick talks to Honey and Judy is late to work for the first time. Stay tuned!**


	8. Chapter 8: Honey

Chapter 8: Honey

 **Author's Notes: The conversation with Honey went so long that this chapter is being split into 2 chapters. I went longer than expected, but I wanted the conversation to feel natural.**

Nick's alarm went off at 7 A.M. He got up and showered, shook the water off his body and air-dryed the rest of his fur. He put fresh clothes on and walked out by his back window.

There it was. Finnick's van.

A smile came across Nick's face. He checked his phone. He was still blocked on the social media sites but not from Finn's main phone. He thought about calling him and having a long talk, but he didn't want to be late for work and he wasn't sure Finn wanted to talk just yet. This was at least a big step in the right direction. He texted Finn with one word, "Enjoy" and left it at that. Then, he heard a knock on the door. He excitedly rushed over and opened it.

It wasn't Finnick, it was Honey.

"Hey Sugar." Honey said with a flirtatious smile. "Been a long time."

Nick looked down at the Honey Badger and returned the smile. "It has, Hon. How's things?"

"Could be better. Could be worse." She said, leaning against the door frame. "Finn sent me over to send a message to you."

This upset Nick a bit. This meant Finnick still had a chip on his shoulder despite Nick offering up what he could. "And what is that?" he sighed.

"First off, he says thanks for the parking spot. He's really grateful for that...but..."

"Here it comes." Nick thought.

"He said he won't hang out with some and I quote, 'filthy prey lover' until you stop hanging around that bunny."

Nick rubbed forehead and leaned against the counter. "And there it is." He said. Anger was starting to build up within him. "What's his deal lately?"

"His deal?" Honey said with a little anger herself. "His DEAL is that when his best friend became a cop, he abandoned him."

"I didn't abandon him Honey. I had a 9 to 5 job and couldn't be his business partner any more! I hung out when I could, but being a cop doesn't exactly leave me with a lot of free time."

"Yeah, well, from what I hear, a lot of your free time is spent messing around with your little bunny honey." Honey said accusingly.

"She's not my girlfriend. We're just best friends. She's done a lot for me."

"So has Finnick. Or did you forget that he practically raised you since you ran away from home?"

"I KNOW THAT!" Nick shouted and quickly apologized. "Sorry. I know, but once I became a cop, we couldn't do those same things anymore. Besides, he seems to be doing okay! He's still got his van and he's got you!"

"Oh really?!" Honey said. "Do you know why I came back into his life? He BEGGED me!He begged me because he was getting the snot kicked out of him daily!"

Nick was shocked. "What?!"

"Oh he didn't tell you? Look, your three times his size. When you two hung out together, nobody really messed with Finn because you were there. No prey wants to mess with a fox, but by himself? He was an easy target."

Nick looked worried. "Oh my God. What happened?"

"They beat on him daily. When I finally got back to him, it was in the hospital room of a free clinic. He tried to hustle some rams and got 20 stitches and a broken rib for his trouble. Not the first time he was in that clinic either."

Nick put his paw over his eyes. He was starting to tear up. "And here I went and slammed him on the ground, stabbing my claw into his neck! Oh man! I...I didn't know it was that bad. I honestly didn't. Why didn't he tell me?!"

"Same thing with all you guys. Stubborn pride. Now that I'm here, he's doing better."

Nick smiled a bit. "Because NOBODY messes with a Honey Badger."

Honey smiled back. "Damn straight! We don't care. You come at us, we'll tear the fur right off your hide!"

Nick felt a bit better. "Well, thank you for being there for him. I can understand why he hates prey so much, but not all prey are like that! Predators can be just as cruel. I was almost attacked by a panther last night just for saying goodbye to Judy."

Honey then said something that stuck with Nick. "Sweetie, we're ALL prey! A real predator is not someone with fangs and claws who hundreds of years ago ate people, it's people who use their power to instill harm and fear on others and they don't need fangs for that! It can be a sheep who makes the city hate us or a bunny who seduces a fox into ditching his best friend. Nowadays, the line between a predator and prey are so blurred that the two terms are pointless anymore. Now I don't fully agree with what Finnick's become, but I can understand where he's coming from at least."

Nick understood. "Yeah. I honestly didn't know it was this bad for him. But you have to understand, Judy didn't 'seduce' me, she SAVED me."

"I aint' mad at'cha!" Honey said. "You just wanted to better yourself. I just thought you should know how your success affected Finn."

"Thanks Honey." Nick said as he looked down at his watch and he realized that too much time had passed.. "Sweet biscuits! I'm gonna be late!" He gently pushed Honey out into the hall way and started to run off. "I gotta go! I'll text Finn later. Thanks for the talk and don't worry, I'll bring his stuff back soon!"

"You better!" Honey smiled. "He's MY baby now!"

Nick rushed to make the bus. He managed to jump in just in time. On his way to the station, he stopped inside the local Cinna-Bone and grabbed three coffee's, a dog biscuit, a carrot cake, a cruller and had them double bag it all. He then ran through the park and stopped at the old, homeless cougar lying on a park bench. He gave the old man a coffee and the cruller. "Share some coffee with your friend." He said. The old man's friend was a goat siting next to him. Nick pulled out the two bags and balanced the two coffees and treats on his arm. "Here's something for you too!" He said and gave the goat two paper bags. The goat smiled and immediately started eating the paper bags. "Gotta go!" Nick said before they could thank him. This a routine he would do often. It just made him feel good.

Nick ran through the police station as fast as he could. He ran over to Clawhauser and dropped the treats near him. "Watch these for a sec." Nick shouted as he ran off. He quickly came back and pointed at Ben. "Do. Not. Eat. Them!"

Clawhauser felt insulted. "Hey, what kind of friend do you take me for?" But as soon as his back was turned, Ben eyed the carrot cake. He was gonna take a little clawful of icing off the top when Nick quickly came back and snarled at him. "Okay! Okay!" Clawhauser said as he backed off the food.

With seconds to spare, Nick made a mad dash for the punch clock and punched his card in a second before 8:01 A.M. Nick was overjoyed. "I made it!" He shouted and headed to the locker room to change into his uniform.

At 8:10 A.M. He was in the meeting room with coffee and treats in hand ready for the 8:15 meeting. He was sitting in his comically large chair and noticing his bunny partner was nowhere to be found. Worried, he called her on his smart phone.

Judy Hopps was still in bed. She was a having a bit of a nightmare and mumbling in her sleep when he phone started to go off. "N-No! You stupid fish! Stay away from my box office numbers!" The phone got louder and Judy finally woke up. Hurriedly, she made a mad dash for the phone.

Groggily, Judy answered. "W-what is it?"

Nick was surprised. "You're still at home?!"

"Y-yeah? What time is it?"

Nick was beside himself. Not with anger, but with glee. "It's 8:12! You're late for work!"

Judy sprung up from bed. "Oh No! OH NO! My alarm radio! It..umm...broke!"

Nick had the widest smile on his face. "Hee-HEE! The boss is gonna kill you!"

Judy was in a panic and grabbed her clothes fast as she could. Too fast. "A real friend wouldn't be happy! Just make something up for me!"

"No way!" Nick said. "I've been on the receiving end of Buffalo Butt's bluster bombs one too many times while you got all the praise. Now it's my turn to watch you suffer!"

Judy got her clothes hap-haphazardly on. "Remind me to kick your tail later!"

"I got it written down"Nick said as he scribbled on a note pad. "And I'll be sure to keep you up to date on anything said at the meeting. Now hurry up! Your coffee's getting cold and Clawhauser keeps eyeing your carrot cake all the way from his desk!" He then hung up.

Judy grabbed her dart gun and made a mad dash out the door. She managed to make the subway train just before it was leaving. She jumped into a large seat and sat down. She noticed some of the passengers were looking at her. "What?" she asked. She then looked down and noticed that she had her blouse backwards and flipped over the wrong way. Also, she put on her undies outside of her pants.

She was never more embarrassed. She quickly pulled the undies off and stuffed them in her handbag. Her ears were beet red as she tried to think of something to say.

"Well, heh-heh! Leave it to a police officer to go commando!"

A mother porcupine and her daughter were sitting across from her. She warned the child "Don't make eye contact with her!"

 **Next Chapter: Someone gets chewed out by Bogo.**


	9. Chapter 9: Who's Chewing Out Who?

Chapter 9: Who's Getting Chewed Out?

It was 8:15 and the meeting room was full. Nick noticed that officers McHorn and Pennington were sitting apart and ignoring each other. The wolves were acting rowdy and howling while officer Delgato was licking his paw and grooming his mane. Chief Bogo entered the room.

"Settle down everyone!" He shouted with authority. He immediately noticed Judy was missing. "Officer Wilde, where is officer Hopps?" Nick shrugged his shoulders and feigned innocence.

"Well, when she arrives, have her go to my office immediately!" Nick could hardly hold back his smile. "This affects you Wilde, so take notes." Bogo went to the chalkboard and made some diagrams. "The gang attack on Mr Housecat yesterday is the latest in an odd string of criminal activity rising among small rodents. Days before, some gerbils robbed a 'Mousey's' store in Little Rodentia. A week ago, it was a motorcycle gang of hamsters terrorizing the Mall of Amammalca. We believe these cases may be linked to a bigger criminal organization, but we have no clues thus far. So please be on the lookout for any suspicious rodent activity in your patrol areas and keep a keen eye."

Bogo then started handing out assignments to fellow officers. Then he got to Nick. "Officer Wilde, when your partner arrives, you'll be casing Savanna Central. Given what I've heard about your driving skills, I HIGHLY recommend patrolling on foot as much as possible."

"Yes sir." Nick replied. "We were just talking about that last night."

"Good!" Bogo stated. "You all have your assignments. Dismissed!" Everyone started to leave. Nick noticed that McHorn stayed in his seat. Pennington passed by him, completely ignoring the Rhino. Nick decided to take the risk and have a talk with him.

"Hey horn dog!"

McHorn slowly looked over. He could see the sadness in his eyes. "Hey Wilde."

Nick spoke to him in a soft tone. "I noticed you and Pennington got assigned different partners."

"Y-Yeah."

"What happened?"

"Nothing. She...her parents didn't approve...at all. We got into a big fight about it last night and now..." McHorn started to tear up. "...And now!"

Mc Horn grabbed Nick and hugged him tight in his arms. Nick was being crushed and could barely breathe. "It hurts man!"

"You and me both!" Nick barely got out of his breath.

"Man, the way you're handling it with Judy...I should've stuck with that! If we had just stayed best friends, partners, we could have been happy together! But I had to go and make a move like a stupid idiot!"

"Can't...breathe!" Nick gasped.

"Sorry." McHorn let Nick down. "You have the right idea. Don't take any risks. Just stay platonic."

"You know who doesn't take risks? Nick asked. "Cowards. You took a risk and went with it. Never regret that. Ever."

"You're right" McHorn said. "Thanks man!" He fist-bumped Nick which knocked him to the floor and stomped off shaking the ground as he left.

"I'm the coward McHorn." Nick said to himself and he left the room.

Nick put the coffee and pastries in his locker and he pulled out a big cooler. He dragged it over to his squad car and saw Judy running inside as fast as she could. He threw the cooler into the floor of the front seat and took off after Judy.

He managed to catch up with her at the time clock and started dancing around and singing to her. _"You're late! You're late! For a very important date! No time to say 'goodbye', 'hello!' You're late, you're late, you're late!"_

"Do you like watching me suffer?" She asked Nick.

"Yes. Every bit of it." Nick said smugly. He took a good look at his partner and noticed something was off. "Ummmm also, are you aware?..."

"That my top's on backwards? Yes." Judy confessed. "I'm also currently not wearing any panties." She said with a flirtatious grin, batting her eyes.

"I wish I could say the same." Nick joked back. She got a good laugh from it. "Change into your police gear and head to Bogo's office."

"Oh no." she groaned.

"Oh yes!" he said happily.

Moments later, they were both sitting in the over sized chair in Bogo's office. Nick was rubbing his hands with anticipation.

"Ooohh you're gonna get it!" Nick said excitedly.

"You know you're horrible don't you?" Judy said angrily.

"Do I know that? Yes. Yes I do."

The floor shook a little as Chief Bogo walked into the office. He planted himself behind his desk and stared down at officer Hopps. She was a bit nervous. It had been a long time since she'd been on the bad side of the Chief.

"You're late." He bellowed.

Nick looked over at her with an evil grin on his face.

Judy was getting more nervous. "I-I'm terribly sorry sir. My alarm radio broke. I swear! It will never happen again!"

"Okay then. Dismissed." The bull put his glasses on calmly and went to reading his reports.

Judy was shocked, not near as shocked as Nick. His jaw was open and he looked at Judy, then to Bogo, then back to Judy, then back to Bogo again. "That's it?!" He shouted.

Bogo looked at him curiously. "Yes? Why?"

"B-b-but but...she was an hour late! I'm even 2 minutes late, you practically set fire to my tail!"

The chief stood up from behind his desk and glared at Nick. "That's because she's had an impeccable, spotless record. She's a half-hour early in here every day. YOU on the other hand, come in barely on time and are often two to ten minutes late every other day!"

The fox cringed in his seat. The tables were turning on him.

The chief blustered and bellowed. "You have some bloody nerve, coming in here and enjoying watching your fellow partner squirm in her seat over one tiny mistake while you're a much bigger screw up BY FAR!"

Judy was enjoying watching Nick squirm. Nick was now folding himself in with his tail between his legs. "B-but, but, but".

"DON'T 'BUT' ME WILDE! I honestly don't know how your partner deals with your crap! You're late constantly, all you ever do is crack stupid jokes, you're soft on the criminals because half of them are old friends and I haven't seen you take down a perp on your own because Hopps always saves your tail! You...you are a horrible excuse for a police officer!"

When Judy heard that, she jumped up onto Bogo's desk and got in his face. "Now just wait one dang minute! Wilde is an excellent officer and a great partner! The only reason he's late sometimes is that he stops and gets food for the less fortunate and his shady past has allowed us to have connections that have helped nab bigger criminals! Not only that, some of them look up to him and want to better themselves! Remember Duke Weaselton? He was in and out of this station more than me! Now, he's working at a construction site and making an honest living. He doesn't take down the criminals because he's the one who distracts them and sets them up while I knock them down!"

Bogo went to argue. "Yes, but he-"

"SHUT YOUR STUPID FACE!" Judy screamed.

Bogo sat back down in his desk. Nick's jaw dropped.

Judy continued "Sure, he makes stupid jokes. HORRIBLE ones even, but this job is incredibly hard and sometimes those dumb jokes are the only thing that gets me through the day. He may be a bit of an incompetent boob at times and can't drive worth a damn, but he's the best thing that's ever happened to me and I will NOT see him besmirched like this! Now if you'll excuse me, officer Wilde and I need to be on patrol." Judy then turned her attention to Nick. "Wilde? Let's go!" Judy then jumped off the desk and stormed out the door.

Nick slowly crawled off the chair and looked at Bogo who was still in shock. "Umm...what she said." was all the fox could say as he then ran out the door.

 **Next Chapter: Bunny Loves Her Ba-Ba.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: To Better One's Self

Nick caught up to Judy after she stormed out the office. "That was something I will never forget for the rest of my life! I-it was incredible! Thank you Hopps and...I'm sorry. I was a terrible friend for trying to watch you squirm. I'm a horrible partner."

Judy turned around and rubbed Nick's shoulder. "You're a WONDERFUL partner! You're just a bit of a jerk at times." She then rubbed the top his head and mocked him. "Who's a good widdle cop?"

"Don't patronize me!" Nick said. Swatting Judy's arm away. "...On second thought, that felt good. Patronize me some more. Between the ears."

Judy chuckled and went along with it. Nick bent down and Judy scratched his ears and rubbed his chin which made Nick's leg shake. "You're a good widdle cop! Yes you are! Yes you..."

Nick and Judy noticed Clawhauser was watching them from a distance. "EEEE! My fanfic's coming true!"

Nick and Judy immediately stood up and walked away. Judy cleared her throat as she passed by Clawhauser. "AHEM! And that, officer Wilde, is how you properly take down a hyena. Now let's be on our way."

Moments later, they were at the car with (now microwaved) coffee and treats in hand. "The coffee's gone stale." Judy mentioned.

"That's fine. I got more drinks in the cooler." Nick said. He then took out the notes from the meeting. "You can read the meeting notes while I drive. You might wanna check the top part."

She looked over the note and had to chuckle at the top part which read _Kick Nick's tail._ He had kept his word. Nick was bent over in front of Judy with his tail wagging. "Go ahead Fluff, you've earned it." Judy laughed and gave him a light punt on the bottom.

They got in the car. "Now let's check our 8-track selections for today...Stevie Wombat...Monkey and Cher...Oh! The Flea-Gee's with 'Saturday Night Lemur'! A Classic!" He put in the tape and they took off.

As they were driving, Judy scanned the notes. "Does Bogo really believe there's a syndicate of small rodent criminals?"

Nick replied "Well Carrots, with four incidents in under two weeks, I could see why they would think that. Think our pal, Mr. Big is in on this?"

"Not likely"Judy answered. "He uses polar bears for muscle and most of these places are outside of his territory."

There was a bit of silence as Judy went over the notes again. Nick was in deep thought. Finally, he spoke up. "Umm...it's...'I can't.'"

Judy was confused. "What?"

Nick confessed. "You asked last night if I don't...y'know...or I can't. It's the latter. After what you did in there, you deserved to know."

"Oh!" Judy said, surprised.

"I know I'm being a bit of a coward. Because if anything happened to you because of me, I could never forgive myself. That said..."

Judy sat up in her child seat. Her little tail wagging. "Yes?"

"After Bogo chewed me out, it got me thinking about what you said to me yesterday. You're right. If I'm gonna get anywhere in life, I need to change the label on myself. Not through disguises or trickery, but by being the best fox cop I can possibly be and making them respect me and see past my red fur. When that day happens, then...maybe..."

"Yeah." Judy replied with a smile. "Maybe."

"Well then, that does it Fluff!" Nick said. "I'm gonna work extra hard and show them just what a fox can do!"

"That's very commendable" Judy said. "If I wasn't strapped to this blasted seat, I'd give you a kiss on the cheek."

The sly fox smiled. "Well then!" and leaned his cheek in for a kiss. Unfortunately, it made him veer to the right."

"Look out!" Judy screamed and Nick managed to dodge an incoming car just in time. "Salty veggies! If you were any worse a driver, you'd be from Los Antelope! Well, not THAT bad, but close!"

Finally, they parked on the sidewalk (literally, thanks to Nick's driving skills) and Nick added money to the parking meter while Judy ate her carrot cake in the car.

Judy was choking on the cake. "COUGH! It's gotten too dry! I need something to wash it down.

Nick opened the cooler and brought out a drink. "Here you go! One carrot juice with ice and sweetened with sugar!"

Just one thing. It was in a baby bottle.

"I am NOT drinking from that!" Judy protested.

"C'mon Fluff! It's Finnick's bottle and I went through all the trouble of making that drink for you. Finn love's drinking from his 'ba-ba'. Trust me." He said with a devilish grin. He put the bottle up to her face.

"Fine!" She yanked the bottle from his hand and proceeded to drink from it. "Mmmmm...MMMMM! That's really good!" She proceed to drink more and grabbed the bottom of the bottle with her feet, tilting it upwards.

"See?" Nick said. "I used to make these for Finn all the time. A little ice and sugar can really spruce up a drink."

"You made him Carrot juice with sugar?" Judy asked.

"Beer." he replied.

Judy was relaxing with the drink and looking out the passenger side window. She still had the bottom half propped with her feet when she heard a shutter click. "What was that?"

"I didn't hear anything." Nick replied while he quickly pocketed his smart phone. "Y'know Carrots, I was thinking..."

"Well that's dangerous." Judy quipped.

"Ha. Ha. I was thinking of why I'm doing so poorly at my driving. I'm always thinking of the next joke or snarky remark to make instead of taking things seriously. But I get nervous, so I kinda need that silly side to even things out."

"Well..." Judy thought. "Why don't we switch personalities?"

Nick was confused. "Hunh?"

Judy explained. "You take your driving seriously and I'll make the dumb jokes and puns!"

"You're terrible at making jokes!" Nick added.

"Then I'm in good company!" She quipped.

Nick then decided to act like Judy with a high voice. "I'm officer Hopps! Nick ! Pay attention for once! Oh my gosh! That car is two centimeters too far from the sidewalk! Better give them a ticket!"

Judy got shades out of the glove compartment. "I'm Nick Wilde! Hustle! Hustle! Hustle!"

Nick protested. "I never say 'Hustle! Hustle Hustle!'"

Judy jumped out of her seat and started dancing. " _Everyday I'm hustlin'! Boo-boo! Beep-Boo! Beep-Beep-Boop!_ "

Judy then realized something. "OH! You always have a nickname for me! Since I'm you, I now get to use one for you!" She then pulled out a list from her handbag.

Nick chuckled. "How long have you been working on that?!"

"Months!" she admitted. "Now let's see...'Sly?'...'Fluffy Tail?' Too long...'Slick?'"

"Not bad!" said Nick.

"No good then. 'Fangface?' 'Blackpaws?' 'Red?'"

"I don't like that one" Nick said. "Red is more of a girl's nickname."

"Red it is!" exclaimed Judy.

"Well that's...just...great?" Nick was distracted by the four-by-four parked in front of the bank ahead of them. "Carrots! Look!"

She saw it too. Squirrels were crawling in and around the vehicle. "Suspicious rodent activity." She commented. "Just like the patterns Bogo's been seeing!"

"M-maybe it's nothing!" Nick nervously replied. "I'm not ready to get into a big car chase!"

"Yeah" Judy said. "Maybe they're making a deposit of acorns?"

Just then, they heard gun shots and the bank alarm ring. Other squirrels ran out. Two of them held a large gun together and shot at security as they got in the large vehicle. They started taking off.

"How are they driving that thing?!" Nick shouted!

"Go! Go! GO! Step on it, Red!" Judy screamed and Nick stepped on the gas with sirens blaring.

 **Next Chapter: The Crazy Chase is On!**


	11. Chapter 11: The Chase is On!

Chapter 11: The Chase is On

 **Author's Note: Word of warning. While humorous, Clawhauser's fanfic can be seen as suggestive. Also a "Long John" is a form of donut in case you didn't know.**

Nick and Judy were in hot pursuit of the 4X4 full of bank robbing squirrels. Judy was trying her best not to panic.

"It's okay! It's okay!" she tried to tell herself."I'm just in a hot police pursuit through the streets of Savannah Central with one of the worst drivers ever!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence!" Nick yelled as he dodged traffic to keep up with the truck. Judy started to hyperventilate into a paper bag when Nick gave her a reminder. "Calm down! I'm you, your me, remember? You gotta keep me focused!"

Judy calmed herself a little. "Y-yeah! Ummm...Those guys are driving a bit squirrly?!"

"It's a start." Nick said. "Not a good start, but at least it's a start!" He grabbed the CB Radio "Attention all units! Car Ratam 12 in hot pursuit of suspect vehicle! Require backup! Copy?!" He looked over and noticed the CB Radio wasn't working. "Blast! This thing's too old!" He turned to Judy. "Use your cell phone!"

Just then, Nick looked over to see one squirrels crawling to the top of the truck. His eyes widened. There was a small turret gun on top and the squirrel jumping in was about to open fire.

"Rabbit! Stay down!" Nick screamed as a hail of bullets hit the windshield. The windshield had shatter marks but did not fully break. In the panic, Nick hit a construction ramp on the right side of the road and the car was leaning on it's left wheels with the right tires in the air. What's worse is that while trying to balance the car on it's side, Nick was forced to veer unto the left lane and in the way of oncoming traffic.

Judy screamed as the squad car managed to barely miss oncoming cars coming upon them from the left and right sides at blinding speeds. Once they passed, Nick managed to drop the car down and get all four tires back on the road. "Are you okay?!" Nick asked in a worried tone.

"Y-y-yeah! I-I'm fine!" Judy answered. "I'm a bit shaken, but not stirred." Judy went back to trying to call dispatch while Nick dodged a hail of gunfire. It was ringing and ringing but no one responded. "Why is no one answering?!"

Back at dispatch, Clawhauser was busy typing away at his computer and ignoring his new intern (a goat) whom he was supposed to be training. He was too busy writing his latest fanfiction.

"Ummm..sir?" The intern spoke. "There's a light blinking on the phone."

"Not now Melvin! I'm up to the steamy part!" Clawhauser said as he typed away with his chubby fingers. "'I can't take it any more!' Gazelle screamed with passion. 'I'm hungry for it now!' She knelt down in front of the great, handsome and brave Chief Clawmouser, lifted up his stomach and pulled out his 8-inch long john that was stuck there since breakfast."

While Clawhuaser was ignoring his duties, Nick tried ramming the side of the truck. Judy rolled down the window, leaned out and got on a horn speaker. "Pull over now!" The squirrels ignored her request and brought out their guns.

Nick panicked and grabbed Judy, pulling her inside. "Get back in here!" As he pulled her in, one of the bullets hit him in the arm. "OW! I've been shot!" Nick screamed.

They backed off the vehicle a bit and Judy checked out Nick's arm. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!" She then noticed that there was no blood. She picked up the "bullet" that fell onto the car seat. "Thank goodness! It's just...an acorn?!"

"Makes sense." Nick pondered. "It's hard for a normal citizen to get a hold of ammo, but squirrels store a huge amount of acorns. Still stung like heck!"

Judy chewed on the acorn and found it delicious. "It's roasted...and salted!" She said. Then, she thought of something funny and started to snicker. "Hee!-Tee-Hee!"

"You got a joke?!" Nick asked. He was still stressed at how to take the truck ahead of them down. "Cuz I could really use one right about now!"

"Red...We're 'Hee!-Hee!...We're being attacked with a salted weapons!"

Nick froze for a sec, then they both burst into laughter.

In the meantime, Clawhauser was still ignoring the phone despite his interns pleads. His fat fingers typing away on the keyboard. "The chocolate frosting dripped onto her muzzle. They both stared into each others eyes."

"Sir!" The intern squeaked. "I really think you should answer this!"

"Not now Melvin!" Clawhauser shouted back as he typed away. "He looked deep into her eyes and finally said what he had been longing to ask. 'Can I have a bite of that?'"

The intern finally grabbed Clawhauser and showed him the phone. "Sir. Please! I think it's an emergency!"

"Well why didn't you say something earlier?!" Ben shouted back. As the goat face palmed, Clawhauser finally answered the phone. "Zootopia Police Department, this is Benjamin Clawhaus-"

"We know who are you are!" Judy screamed. Her and Nick still couldn't get over the dumb joke they both loved. "HeeHeeHAHA! This...HAHA..this is officers Hopps and Wilde! We are pursuing a vehicle involved in AHAHA...in a bank robbery. We request backup! We hee-hee! We are being shot at!"

"With a salted weapons!" Nick chimed in. "AAAHAHAHA!"

Judy started laughing some more as well. "Plee-hee-heeze hurry!" A salted weapons! AHAHAHA!"

A shocked Clawhauser chimed in. "Uhhh...I've informed the other squad cars near your area and backup is on the way." He hung up the phone.

"They were laughing and acting crazy while being shot at!" Said the intern.

Clawhauser added "the romantic tension between them finally made them snap."

Judy was trying to calm herself. "Okay! Hee-Hee! Okay! Let's calm down. Red, I got an idea."

"Great Fluff, I could use one!"Nick replied as he was trying to find a way to get ahead of the vehicle.

"Pull up to the left side of them. When I give the signal, pull over to the right. I'm gonna take the fight to them!"

Nick was surprised. "Are you nuts?!"

"No, THEY got the nuts. I'm gonna take them from them!"

"This is crazy!" Was all Nick could say as he headed back towards the left side of the vehicle.

"Okay...NOW!" and Judy jumped out of the police car and into the back seat of the squirrel's 4x4. Nick hurried to get over to the right side. All he could hear was a "HIIYA! YA!"from Judy as she was kicking squirrel tail inside. She managed to smash one of the squirrels through the back windshield while some of the other squirrels were crawling to the top of the truck and even more were jumping out of the truck entirely. Judy jumped out of the 4x4, onto Nick's lap and back to her car seat. All with a big bag of acorns.

Nick was excited. "That was amazing Carrots!" As Nick went to look at Judy, he saw that she stuffed a bunch of the acorns in her cheeks and chuckled.

She tried to say "I'm a chipmunk" with her face full of acorns, but the best she could get out was"Ah'm a fhip-mung!"

Nick laughed. "I've created a monster! Ha-Ha! Well let's see them attack us without their ammo now!"

He spoke too soon. The squirrels threw out a small pine cone out of their vehicle towards the squad car.

"A pine cone?" Judy asked.

Nick replied "They must be despera-" and then the pine cone exploded with colorful flames everywhere. The shock wave of the explosion shattered the front window entirely.

"Grenades!" Judy screamed. "How are they doing it?"

"I recognize the smell!" Nick answered. "They must be stuffing them with fireworks and lighting them off before throwing them."

Judy was amazed. "I gotta admit. They are impressive! When I was in the car, I noticed that they have a bunch of them working in unison to do gas, braking and steering! Not to mention acorn bullets and pine cone grenades."

"Yeah!" Nick replied. "These are some seriously innovative bank-robbing squirrels! And that's a sentence I never thought I'd say!"

Judy made a decision. "We gotta keep a bit back and wait for backup or we're gonna get hit badly by one of those pine cones!"

"Sounds good." Nick added. He wanted no part of those pine cone grenades.

Judy saw that the streets ahead were getting congested. "They'll have to slow down soon and then we'll catch them."

"Don't be so sure about that!"Nick replied and sure enough, they went off the road and onto the sidewalk heading towards a stadium. "There they go into that incredibly large stadium!" It's true. In order to fill an audience full of varying sizes, the stadium had to be enormous.

Judy was worried sick. "Oh no! That's the Steeples Center and it's crowded tonight!"

Nick was concerned. "Why? What's going on tonight?!"

"It's the finals of the eucalyptus bowl! "

"The Uca-Whatta?" asked a confused Nick.

"The world giraffe soccer league!"

"Well this is about to get very interesting." said Nick as the truck smashed through the doors and onto the field and Nick and Judy followed in pursuit.

 **Next Chapter: Game On!**


	12. Chapter 12: Get Giraffe Outta Here!

Chapter 12: Get Giraffe Outta My Way!

There was no turning back. The squirrels raced into the giant stadium in their 4X4 and were racing down the islse where the concession stands were. Fortunately, this stadium was built for mammals of all sizes and this being the finals of the Eucalyptus Bowl, about 80 percent of the audience was giraffes. The squirrels along with Nick and Judy were racing between the giraffe's legs and barely missing other mammals.

At one point, the squirrels bumped into a giraffe's leg and forced them to drop their giant cup of popcorn, which spilled through Nick and Judy's broken window and filled their front seat. Judy started munching on the popcorn. "I could really use a soda right now" she joked while munching away.

She got her wish as a giant cup of soda fell and flooded their front seat, soaking both Nick and Judy. "You just HAD to ask!" Nick said grumpily.

"Careful, Red!" Judy warned with a smile. "Or you'll turn into me!"

"Blasphemous." Nick added.

They then almost drove into Yax the yak who was in the tobacco and alcohol line. The hippy yak from the Mystic Springs Oasis was clothed this time, if just barely and in the ugliest attire. "Woah Man! Like, watch it!" The yak yelled as the squad car barely missed him. He finally got up to the front of the line where a lady antelope assisted him. "Wha'd ya need honey?" she replied with a gravely voice like she barely had a lung left.

"Ya got any Camels?" The fly-ridden Yak asked.

"Hold on." The antelope replied and she turned to yell at the back of the counter. "HEY STACY! GET YER UGLY BUTT OUT HERE!"

A homely lady camel came out. She had a beat-up rag of a blouse and enough make up on to join the circus. She looked down at Yax. "Hey cutie! Wanna watch watch the game with me?" she said while batting the lashes of her good eye.

Yax was confused. "That's not what I mea-errr...okay. What the heck!" They then went off, arm and arm.

The camel flirted with Yax. "Y'know honey, those hairs under your chin are kinda sexy!"

"Thanks!" The yak replied "So are yours!"

Meanwhile, the squirrels had made the situation even worse by driving out onto the field. Nick and Judy were still in hot pursuit when the giant soccer ball in play landed on their hood. Nick's field of view was completely blocked by the soccer ball half the size of their car. Nick was starting to freak out. "I'm driving blind here, Jude! Starting to panic! Give me a joke!"

" _We're having a ball?!_ "

"Terrible."

" _The ball's in our court?_ "

"Awful!"

" _...'Ballz on Da Hood': A Spike Lemur Joint!_ "

"HAHA! That's the one!" And Nick twisted the car left and right to get rid of the soccer ball, but to no avail. Then, Judy and Nick ducked into their car seats as a giant giraffe foot came and kicked the ball off the hood.

Nick shouted out the window. "Thanks for the assist!"

The angry Giraffe just yelled back. "Get off the court! The ball's in play!" Another giraffe launched himself at the squirrels 4X4 only too miss and land on the ground with his belly in the dirt. Nick ended up running over the back of the giraffe's hooves which launched them into the air and onto the giraffe's butt. They got stuck there for a moment as Nick stepped on the gas and revved his tires on the poor giraffe's rear. They finally managed to get off the giraffe and continue the pursuit.

Judy looked back at the poor soccer player. "Well, if his shorts didn't have skid marks before..."

Nick joined her in finishing the sentence. "...THEY SURE DO NOW!" They both laughed.

"He might be injured. We're horrible people." Nick mused. 

The squirrels were going every which way trying to find the exit and throwing their pine cone grenades out on the field. They were more like firecrackers to the giant giraffes who were in play. One of them got brave enough and kicked the back of the squirrel's 4X4. The truck spun around and landed inside the giant goal net.

Judy and Nick saw the whole thing and raised their arms in triumph. They both shouted together. "GOOOOOAAALL!"

Yax and his surprise date were watching the chaos unfold from the stands. "Oh wow man! Like, I didn't know soccer was this crazy! I got the munchies somethin' awful. You want me to like, get you anything?"

"Nah I'm good/" The camel said while chewing on her cud. She then grabbed a big glob of it out of her mouth. "Ya wanna share?" she asked the yak.

Yax was really grossed out at the very idea. "Ewww! Umm...no thanks, I'm like, on a loogie-free diet right now!"

"Suit yerself!" Stacy responded and put the gross, yellow glob back in her mouth.

Yax almost puked at the sight and excused himself. "I'm gonna get me some grass!"

"To smoke?" Asked the camel.

"Yax was almost offended at the thought. "No! To eat! 'Smokin' grass?' Like, what a crazy idea!"

Meanwhile, Nick and Judy's celebration was cut short. The 4x4 ripped a hole in the large netting of the goal and took off towards the exit. Judy didn't see it and was dancing in her seat while singing.

" _Olaaaay'! Ole! Ole! Ole!_ "

"Carrots?"

" _Ole! Olaaaay!_ "

"Judy!"

" _Olaaay! Ole_ -"

"HEY COTTON BUTT! SIT DOWN! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!" Nick yelled at Judy. Which in itself was an extreme rarity.

"Whoops! Sorry!" Judy replied as she strapped herself in and they took off. The squirrels knocked into another one of the giraffe players as they found the exit and smashed through the glass doors on the way out.

Nick and Judy followed suit, but the giraffe soccer players have had enough and kicked the ball toward them. The squad car exited the stadium towards the 4X4, but now with a giant soccer ball in pursuit as well. They turned down Tundra Drive and were heading downhill toward the river that divided Sahara Square and Tundra Town. The soccer ball knocked into the side of a building and managed to bounce back down toward Nick and Judy's direction.

"Nick looked back at the giant ball following behind them. "I feel like Indiana Bones!"

"Oh no!" Judy shouted. "Nick! Look!" The Tundra Drive bridge over the river was raising up. The 4X4 was headed full speed and looked like it was gonna make it. They needed to think of something and quick. Judy saw the giant ball coming up from behind them and thought of an idea. "Keep going forward Red! I'm gonna ride on top!" and she hopped out of the car again and onto the roof.

"Y'know Carrots, at least when you drive, I stay in my seat!" Nick shouted back at Judy.

Judy steadied herself on top of the hood and stared down at the giant bouncing soccer ball about to run into them she looked back that the squirrels in the 4X4 to aim her shot. The ball was about to come down onto the roof of the squad car. With all of Judy's strength, she leaped up to meet the ball and gave it a swift, spin kick towards the 4X4. It worked. The ball zoomed at lightning speed and hit the 4X4 when it was in mid-air over the bridge. The truck spun around on it's axis causing all the squirrels to fly out and hit the road. "Yes!" Judy said as she pumped her fist in triumph.

The bridge was still raising. Judy stayed surfing on the roof of the car. "Keep going!" She shouted to Nick.

"Are you sure?" He shouted back.

"I'll jump off to the other side! Go for it!"

Nick trusted Judy's judgment and hit the gas. They hit the angle of the bridge hard but were zooming up fast. As the car got air off the top, Judy jumped off.

"I'm gonna make it!" Nick shouted as the car was in mid-air and Judy managed to leap, then tuck and roll to the other side.

"I'm gonna make it!" He shouted as the car started to veer toward the right.

"I'm SO not gonna make it!" He screamed as the car hit the side of the bridge. The impact made Nick hit his head against the steering wheel and knocked him out. The car then spun as it splashed into the icy cold waters below.

Judy turned around in time to watch the accident happen."NIIICK!" she screamed.

 **Next Chapter: A Cold Reception**


	13. Chapter 13: A Cold Reception

Chapter 13: A Cold Reception

 **AUTHORS NOTE: * = That is how you give a dog CPR. I Googled it.**

"NIICK!" Judy screamed as she took a big gulp of air and dived into the water without hesitation. She swam was fast as she could with her large feet helping give her speed. She had to rush as the car was dipping further and further down. She swam through the busted window and got the seat belt off Nick. With all of her strength, she pulled him upward and swam to the surface. "I have to hurry!" She thought to herself. "If he dies, it's MY fault! I'll lose him and it will be MY fault! I can't let that happen!"

She almost ran out of air herself as she reached the surface of the water. She then dove her head back in and pushed Nick's head above the water which was a struggle in itself. She swam to the small, cement shoreline near the bridge and pulled with all of her might, but Nick was too heavy and his clothes were waterlogged. "COME OOONN!" She screamed and she pulled him out onto the surface with a strength she didn't even know she had.

She checked for a heartbeat but couldn't hear it. "Oh God! No!" She said and started compressing his chest. She then titled his head and opened his mouth to let any excess water out. She then closed his mouth tight with her paws and blew into his nose.* She was panicking. She kept going back to chest compressing and blowing into his nose, but it wasn't helping. Her paws were too small too pump the chest. She wouldn't give up though and was sobbing through the whole thing.

"COME ON NICK! DAMN YOU! I won't let you go! I can't!" She kept compressing his chest. "You're gonna do great things! You're gonna get a big commendation and be a big hero!" She blew into his nose again. "And...and you're gonna show the world how great a fox can be! And when that day comes...when that day comes, we can be together! Do you hear me?! COME ONNN!"

She finally had enough and grabbed onto Nick shoulders and started stomping on his chest with her feet as hard as she could. "COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!" She blew real hard into his nose one more time. Then Nick sneezed hard right into her mouth.

Nick started coughing and coming to. Stomping on his chest had done the trick. "T-thank you Carrots!" Nick said shivering. The water was ice cold. Nick could only see Judy with her back turned and all fours trying to gag. Nick looked concerned. "Judy! Are you okay?"

"BLAAACCH! I think I just swallowed about a liter of fox snot!" Judy said as she was completely grossed out. She then turned around and ran into Nicks arms and hugged him tight.

"I-I-I'm okay Fluff." Nick said as he put her down and shook off as much water from his fur as possible. She did the same. They were both shivering cold, but Nick even more so. Nick crossed his arms over him to try and get warmth. "Wh-what about the perps?"

Judy didn't really care about the squirrels right now and was more concerned for Nick, but she took a look anyway and saw that their backup had finally arrived and were putting them into custody. Judy waved her arms and ran towards the squad car. "HEEEY! OVER HERE!" She screamed. She got Nick and herself emergency blankets while Officer Fangmeyer called for an ambulance for the two of them.

Judy walked back over and handed him the blanket. Nick thanked her."It's a good thing you're ice cold Officer Hopps, cuz this may get you hot and bothered." Nick said as he took off his shirt and under shirt and proceeded to shake some more water off of him. He then wrapped himself up in the blanket.

"Okay. One, get over yourself and two, turn around." Judy ordered. Nick obliged and she took her top armor off as well as her shirt. She shook off some excess water off and wrung out her wet shirt and put it back on.

"Can I turn around now?" Nick asked and Judy responded by hugging his back and wrapping her blanket around the both of them. She then buried her head in the back of his shoulder and sobbed. Nick looked over at her."Hey now, Fluff! Stop. I'm fine."

"You were dead Nick!" Judy said through her tears. "Your heart wasn't beating for a full minute or more and my stupid, tiny arms weren't enough! Y-y-you could have gotten brain damage or worse and it would have been all my fault because I told you to keep going!"

"But I didn't die because you saved me. We're cops. We're supposed to take risks. It's part of our job! To be honest, I probably would've gone for it anyway. I really wanted to nab those guys. Now would you quit your bawling Carrots? I'm supposed to stay dry y'know? Your wet tears aren't helping."

Judy chuckled and rested her head against Nick's back. "Y'know we really screwed up on this one. If Fangmeyer hadn't shown up, those squirrels would've gotten away. Plus, we wrecked the car...again!"

"Not only that, but Finn's stuff went down with the car." Nick replied.

"Aww biscuits! More reasons for him to hate me." Judy replied.

"Well, most of it can be replaced. But there was a baby blanket in there knitted by his grandma."

"When he was born?"

"No, for his 30th birthday."

Judy laughed. "Bogo's gonna kill us y'know?"

Nick tried to comfort Judy. "Well, considering what the squirrels put us through, the fact that I nearly died and we'll probably be in the hospital overnight for almost freezing to death, I'm sure he'll be merciful on us."

The next day in Bogo's office...

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TWO THINKING?!" Bogo bellowed. The buffalo didn't bother standing behind his desk, but stood in front of the two, leaning down while they were once again sitting in the giant chair.

Judy seemed the more intimidated this time as she was hiding slightly behind Nick. "You were saying?" She said quietly to Nick.

Bogo over heard her whisper. "Do you have something to say to me Officer Hopps?! Perhaps you want me to, as you so blatantly put it, 'shut my stupid face'?!"

"T-t-that was a poor choice of words yesterday, I'll admit." Judy said while trembling behind Nick who was surprisingly calm and in control. "B-but you see, the squirrels, they-"

"'BUT' NOTHING! You two have created an international incident! I got the mayor breathing down my neck! You not only let a chase go into a public, CROWDED area, but you interrupted a world series game and injured a star athlete! A Mr. Barry 'Longneck' Leafmuncher who is suing the department for defamation of character because the fans replaced the nick name 'Longneck' with 'Skid Marks'!

Nick couldn't help but let out a brief snicker for a second at the nickname. It did not go unnoticed by the chief. "DO YOU THINK SOMETHING'S FUNNY OFFICER 'ABOUT TO BE FIRED' WILDE?!"

"No sir not at all. It was a tragic incident." Nick said calmly.

"On top of all that was a runway, giant soccer ball that smashed into a building causing property damage and injured three pedestrians! Also, the 'money' they robbed from the bank was just a large bag of acorns that another squirrel had deposited. That's evidence we need! WHERE is the evidence Officer Hopps?!"

Judy squeaked quietly "A-a-a-at the bottom of the Tundra river. I had retrieved it, but then-"

"Great!" Bogo yelled. "Wonderful! Now we are missing some vital evidence! NOW DO YOU TWO IDIOTS HAVE ANYTHING MORE TO SAY BEFORE I TERMINATE YOU AND HAVE YOU BOTH THROWN OUT OF THE STATION?!"

Judy tried to chime in first. "S-s-sir! A-as senior officer, I take full responsibility for what happened! I gave the orders to-" Nick put his paw on her shoulder.

"That's enough Carrots. I've got this."

"But Nick! I-"

"I'VE. GOT. THIS." He said with a stern look to Judy. He then put his hands behind his back and turned his attention to Bogo.

"At 5:45pm, officer Hopps and I had just parked our car for patrol on foot when we the saw the bank in front of us being robbed. The suspects had not only robbed the bank but were firing back at security in front of a large crowd of people. They then jumped into their truck and started to take off. Me and officer Hopps were in pursuit immediately with me behind the wheel."

Bobo was getting impatient. "I don't need a detailed report Wilde!"

"Sir! Please shut..." Nick stopped himself in time. "Please don't interrupt. This is very important! While Hopps was trying to communicate to dispatch because our C.B. radio was too old and broken, I was getting shot at by those same acorns you mentioned earlier. They used them as ammo in a gun turret on top of their truck."

"That's crazy!" Bogo replied. He was starting to calm down a little.

Judy chimed in. "I'd like to also add that dispatch took forever to answer me. We may have had backup sooner if not for that."

"Clawhauser and his blasted fan fics!" Bogo growled under his breath.

Nick continued. "Anyway, Officer Hopps bravely jumped into their car and fought many of them to retrieve the bag of acorns and bring it into our car."

"Impressive!" Bogo added.

"At any rate, when we saw they were getting near the Steeples Center, we backed off in hopes they would not go near a crowded building. When they did, we had no choice but to pursue as stated in article B subsection D12 of the ZPD guidelines. You ARE aware of subsection D12, are you not sir?"

Bogo looked dumbfounded for a second and lied while shifting his eyes around. "Umm..yes! Yes of course! But please repeat it for Officer Hopps."

"Of course sir." Nick replied. "Article D12 states that if any suspects enter a building with heavy weaponry it is the duty of the police officer to rush in and stop them from causing any damage. We held to that article and followed in pursuit. Remember these squirrels also had pine cone grenades they were throwing at the players on the field."

Bogo was surprised. He leaned on his desk and was starting to calm down. "Oh! I didn't know about the grenades. How did they make pine cones into explosives?"

"Ground up fireworks sir. They mixed them into the pine cones and then lit them." Judy added.

Nick rolled his eyes." Everyone keeps interrupting me."

Bogo apologized. "Sorry. Please, go on."

Nick continued on "ANYWAY, ol' "Skid Marks" put himself in danger by trying to tackle the suspects on his own which lead to us accidentally running into him and running over his butt. It was also another athlete who took it upon himself to kick the giant soccer ball at us as we were exiting the building and thus, was the one responsible for the damage. Officer Hopps risked life and limb to rid the soccer ball with an amazing kick that knocked over the suspects vehicle. Leading to their arrest."

"AH-HA!" Bogo added. "But YOU made the dumb decision to keep going and try to jump the rising bridge! Leading to wrecking yet, ANOTHER squad car and causing your near death!"

Judy jumped in. "Actually sir, that was entirely my-" Nick stopped her again quickly by putting his paw to her mouth.

"What part of 'I've got this' do you not understand?" Nick glared at Judy. She calmly sat down and let him finish.

"Actually sir, I don't know what happened! I tried my best to brake but the brake cable must have snapped because it wouldn't slow down! With the speed we were already going plus the fact we were heading downhill led to me having no choice but to try and jump the bridge. In fact, the steering in that car felt wrong too! I don't think it should have been approved for release yet. It felt like it needed repairs."

"HA! That's were I got you Wilde!" Shouted Bogo triumphantly. "I was the one that approved that car for you. I checked our records in the computer and it said it was perfectly safe for travel!"

Nick looked surprised. "Are you sure? Because it drove like a wreck!"

"I'll bring it up on the computer myself!" Bogo said smugly and he went straight to his laptop and went to the garage files. Then his jaw dropped. "Oh no!"

"What is it sir?" Nick asked with a look of curiosity.

"I...I must have looked at the wrong car. According to the files, that car was last serviced in 1996 and was not recommended for driving due to several faulty issues and had not been serviced since then. This is MY fault! I'm...I'm sorry Wilde. I put your life in great danger. Is there any way I can repay you?"

He gave it a little bit of thought. "Well, Officer Hopps and I COULD use the rest of the day off. Seeing as how we're still recovering from possible frostbite and all."

"Happily granted!" The chief replied.

Nick then stood behind Judy and put his paws on her shoulders. "AND I would like to recommend a commendation for Officer Hopps."

Judy turned her head back towards the fox. "Nick?"

"Officer Hopps not only risked her life by jumping into the suspects vehicle, battling several squirrels and retrieving the acorns, she also miraculously kicked a soccer ball almost the size of a car into the suspects vehicle, stopping them cold. On top of that, she managed to swim into the deep, icy cold river and dragged my unconscious body back to shore and somehow had the incredible strength to pull me onto land despite being twice her size and almost three times her weight in a waterlogged uniform. Not to mention using CPR and saving my life. In this pursuit, Officer Hopps went above and beyond the call of duty."

Bogo was beaming with pride. "Duly noted! I'll have a talk with the mayor after I get the rest of this mess sorted out. You two are dismissed. Enjoy your day off!"

They both left the office and walked off towards the lobby. "And THAT is how you hustle your way out of a bad situation." Nick said to Judy.

Judy gave Nick a big hug. "That was AMAZING Nick! Thank you for the commendation! I'm so surprised at your knowledge! I didn't know about article B subsection D12. You must have really been studying well at your time with the academy!"

Nick looked back at Judy with a sly grin. "Fluff, the only thing I've been studying was how to hack into the ZPD garage files last night so I could backlog the car info. I have no idea what article B subsection D12 is. I made it up!"

Judy's jaw dropped. She then dropped to her knees and bowed at Nick. "Oh hustle master! Please teach me your ways!"

Nick smiled. "Sadly, I cannot teach you as my abilities are a gift blessed to be by the hustle Gods."

They both laughed and walked together some more.

 **Next Chapter: The Finale (I think. Might go another chapter.)**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Not The End

 **Author's Note: You'll have to wait until next week for the bonus chapter as I'm off to Comic Con this week.**

As Nick and Judy were leaving the station, Clawhuaser stopped munching on his doughnut and called them over. "Hey you two! Where are you going?"

"We did such a good job on the pursuit, we got the day off." Nick replied.

"Yeah! Since we're still recovering from that ice cold river, we're gonna go take a rest." Judy added.

"That's nice!" Clawhauser said. "Oh Judy! Thanks for contributing that picture to this years ZPD calendar. It's both very cute and sexy at the same time!"

"WHAT picture?!" Judy demanded to know as Nick started sneaking his way toward the front door.

Clawhauser brought up the picture on his computer and showed it to Judy. It was Judy using all four paws to suck on the baby bottle while in the child seat. It gave her an appearance like a little infant. Nick took it when her back was turned toward the passenger window, but her reflection could be seen and made for a bit of an artistic photo.

Judy was livid, but she kept her cool. "Thank you Clawhauser. I thought it was pretty cute myself. If you'll excuse me?" She then left and started heading toward Nick who was at the door. He was starting to cringe a little and was waiting for her to lower the boom. It didn't come. She silently walked out the door and ignored him.

Judy and Nick left the station and headed down the street. They were still in their uniforms since Nick argued earlier that hanging out together in uniform would be best as people would see them as co-workers and not a couple. Judy was still not talking to Nick and it was starting to drive him crazy.

"Are you mad at me?"

"..."

"Look. I thought it would be a fun little joke and you'd just get a bit ticked off and we'd have a laugh and that's it!"

"..."

"Okay! Okay! Your reverse psychology worked! I'm really sorry Fluff! I was just hoping to get a reaction from you, but now that you haven't reacted at all, I feel much worse than if you had. Can you please forgive me?"

Judy got her smile back. "HA! I knew that would work. You're forgiven, Red."

"'Red?!' You can stop that. I'm not driving anymore."

"Nope. I like 'Red' and I'm keeping it. You have like, FIVE nicknames for me y'know?" Judy said as she elbowed Nick.

"I'm doomed" Nick responded and then he saw someone familiar coming down the street. "Hey! I recognize that stench from all the way over here. It's Yax!"

"Who?" Judy asked.

"Y'know, that Yak from the Mystic Spring Oasis?"

They both greeted Yax from a distance. The Yak was wearing a beat up a pair of shorts and nothing else. Flies were still buzzing around his head as usual.

Nick greeted him first. "Hey Yax! How's things?"

The yak parted his nappy hair to get a good look. "Oh hey! It's the cop lady and fox dude from last year! Thanks for finding Emmet man! His wife visits with him now. I think to keep an eye on him y'know?"

Judy was pleased. "That's wonderful! I haven't heard from them in awhile."

The Yak continued "Anyway, I'm like, headed to work, but I might stop at the police department later and make a complaint. Like, I almost got ran over by a squad car chasing a truck inside the Steeples center last night!"

Nick and Judy looked at each other nervously. "Hunh. You don't say!" Nick added.

"I do say! But things went pretty good anyway. I somehow got a date with a camel last night. She was pretty cute! Nice beard too. Date didn't end well sadly. She spat in my face!"

Judy looked sad. "Aww. Because you said something to upset her?"

The yak responded "No. That was her idea of foreplay! Kinda went downhill from there." The yak started munching on some acorns from a bag he had. "Anyway, 'munch, munch' I gotta get goin'. "See you dudes!"

Judy saw the sack of acorns. "Wait! Where did you get that bag of acorns?!"

"Oh this?!" Yax said. Pointing to the sack. "Found it around the river this morning. Can you believe some idiot threw away this huge sack of acorns?"

Judy rushed over and grabbed the bag. Starting a struggle with the yak. "I need those Yax! They're evidence in a case!"

Yax protested and started pulling back. "Hey lady! Get yer hands off my nut sack!"

Nick and Judy froze in embarrassment. Several people around the street were staring. Nick offered money to Yax to shut him up and take the sack. "Here's twenty bucks for the bag and PLEASE don't yell that out loud again!"

"Oh wow! Like, thanks man! I could buy like a whole bushel of nuts for that price!" and Yax happily walked off.

Nick and Judy started walking again with the bag over her shoulder. "Well THAT was embarrassing!"

"Tell me about it!" Judy replied. I'm dead beat! I could use a good nap. Say, your place is closer and you have a spare bedroom you don't use!"

"Why Carrots!" Nick said flirtatiously. "Are you suggesting you wanna go back to my place and 'sleep around'?"

"In the literal sense, yes. I'll sleep in your bedroom with the door closed and you sleep on the floor in your disgusting living room. Then, we'll get up around 6 and go get dinner. Deal?"

"Deal!"Nick replied and they headed over to Nick's place.

Nick and Judy arrived at Nick's place. His clothes were strewn everywhere and the pile around the trash can was starting to attract flies. Judy held her nose as she went in. "Oh wow! It even SMELLS worse than I remember!" She then went to cleaning up the trash despite Nick's insistence not to.

Just then, Nick heard the roar of a familiar engine. Finnick's van was about to take off. "Wait!" Nick yelled as he opened up his bedroom window and slid down the drain pipe. He made it to Finn's van. Finnick was behind the wheel with Honey in the passenger seat.

Nick banged on the window. "Finn! Open up! Finn! Please!"

Reluctantly, Finn rolled down the window. "We have to go Nick! What do you want?!"

Nick was almost in tears, but held himself together. "Look1 It's just... I'm sorry for everything that happened! I didn't know how bad it was for you without me or I'd have helped more! If that's why you're mad at Judy, then PLEASE don't be! Be mad at me! This is all my fault!"

Finn looked nervous. "Okay!Look! I forgive you alright?! Judy too! I just... I really gotta go! There's some guys watching me!"

Nick was confused. "Watching you?!"

"Yeah!" Finnick replied. "You know that anti-prey propaganda you saw? I ended up messing around with some really bad dudes and they got plans! BIG, HORRIBLE plans for this city! It's gonna happen in about a month! I'm going into hiding and you should too! Get yourself and Judy outta here! Go to Bunny Burrow! Go to your moms over on the outskirts of town! Just get out of this city! Now leave!"

"No way!" Nick pleaded. "I'm not leaving you and Honey in any danger!"

"I'm sorry Nick." Finnick said quietly and poked Nick in the head with his bat causing Nick to fall on the ground. He then yelled and looked around to see if any of his "gang" were watching him. "Now get away you prey lovin' filth! I don't ever wanna see you or that roach again!" and he sped off in the van leaving Nick confused and hurt.

Nick climbed back up the drainpipe and through his window. Judy was watching the whole thing.

"I saw the whole thing." Judy said. "Sounds like he's still mad."

Nick sat on the floor stunned. "No. He said he forgave us."

"That's good!" Judy added. Trying to make the situation more cheerful.

"But he's in trouble." Nick continued. "He said he's going into hiding because the anti-prey people he got involved with are planning something really big and really bad in about a month! Something that will affect the whole city!"

Judy gasped. "We have to find him! We need more information!"

"Sorry Fluff." Nick replied. "When Finn wants to hide, he stays hidden. He's impossible to find."

Judy hugged Nick. "I'm so sorry Nick! I don't know what to do!"

Nick hugged her back. "It's okay Fluff. He wants us to go into hiding, but we both know that's not gonna happen!"

Judy got up. "Dang straight! We're ZPD's finest and we don't run from anybody!"

Nick smiled. "We'll talk more later. For now, why don't we get some sleep?" Judy agreed and she walked into her room.

Nick circled around his blankets and laid down. He tried to sleep, but he couldn't. All he could think about was Finnick and their life together. He cried all night the night he ran away from home, but Finnick told him to "stop being a little wuss" and gave him half a beer to help him fall asleep. Finn took him to a free clinic when he broke his foot and stayed by his bed side. "I don't have anything better to do" he'd say, but Nick knew he was there to comfort him. Pretty much any other time of comfort was just getting Nick drunk. His first break up with a girl at 15? Got him drunk. The day his dad died in prison? Got Nick so drunk he couldn't remember what happened the next day. As a sort of foster dad, Finnick didn't do all the right things for Nick, but he was there for him just the same.

Just then, Judy shouted out from her bedroom. "Nick. Are you asleep?"

Nick got up and wrapped his blankets around him. "No Judy, what do you want?"

"I can't sleep. It's too quiet."

Nick got a smile on his face. "Don't worry Fluff. I got just the thing!"

He then went over to the outside of the bedroom wall and started banging and kicking at it while yelling. "SHUT UP! NO, YOU SHUT UP! NO, YOU SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

After a good minute of this, Nick asked "Is that better?", but all he heard in return was snoring.

Nick thought to himself "Who'd think Bucky and Pronk's yelling could be considered soothing?" He then went back to his pile and fell asleep.

The next day, Nick headed over to Clawhauser's desk. He was sobbing while his intern was handing him tissues. "It's over! It's all over!" The cheetah bawled.

"What is it now?" Nick reluctantly asked.

A sobbing Ben replied "It's Bogo! He...he..BAAWWHAWHAWW!"

Mevlin, the goat intern rolled his eyes. "The chief blocked Mr. Clawhuaser's fan fic site off the servers."

"My 'ships' have been sunk!" bawled the fat cheetah.

While weeping, Ben took the last doughnut out of a paper bag and handed the bag to Melvin who happy ate it.

"Y'know, you can write up your stuff at home." Nick said.

"What? And cut into my busy social life?!" Ben replied.

Nick gave him a look.

"I could have a life! You don't know!" The cheetah answered. Nick just rolled his eyes and walked toward the meeting room.

Clawhauser then talked to his intern. "Melvin. I need time alone. Why don't you go to the recycling bin and snack on the cans?"

"Yes sir!" The goat replied and he took off.

Nick arrived at the meeting room and there was Judy. Bright and chipper and early as always. "I gave the chief the evidence. They've been questioning the squirrels since last night. I told them about what Finnick said too and it seems to match up with what the squirrels are saying."

Nick jumped into the giant seat he shared with Judy. "I hope they gave a car for you this time, or else we're patrolling on foot. I may never drive again!"

"You did okay the other night. All things considered." Judy replied.

"It was terrifying!" Nick responded "From now on I'm letting you do the driving."

Bogo came into the meeting room. "Quiet everyone! We have a new priority number one. After talking with several of the squirrels that officers Hopps, Wilde and Fangmeyer apprehended, it seems the small gangs of thieves are terrorizing this city not for 'kicks' but for survival. There is a new threat to this city and all we know is his name. "The Big Cheese". We don't know his exact plans yet, but we do know they involve attacking prey. The rodents did their crimes as 'tribute' so they would not be targeted later. This 'Big Cheese' has something big in mind within one month's time so we need to find out who he is and apprehend him! Needless to say this information does not leave this room as it would cause a city wide panic and further damage prey/predator relations."

"'The Big Cheese?'"Nick questioned to Judy. "Now we really need to talk to Mr Big. I don't think he's involved, but he may know something!"

Bogo continued. "I need all officers to question any possible leads to this case while doing your regular patrols. Officers Grizzoli and Fangmeyer? Sahara Square. Officers Wolford and Higgings? Rainforest District. Officers McHorn and Pennington? Downtown."

Nick looked over and saw McHorn and Pennington getting up and leaving together. McHorn just looked over at Nick and gave him a smile. Nick gave a smile and a wink back. They had managed to work things out.

"Officers Hopps and Wilde? Since you've already managed to wreck TWO cars in as many days, you'll be taking your old, crawling patrol jeep out for traffic duty until your squad car is repaired. Dismissed!"

Judy and Nick jumped up with tails wagging. "We'll take it!"

Bogo looked confused as Nick and Judy danced around on top of their chair and started singing. _"We got parking duty! We got parking duty! Tralalalalalaaa!"_

"Keep that up and I'll make it permanent" The Chief threatened.

Later that day, Nick and Judy were out on the street checking meters and making sure the cars were parked close enough.

"I can't believe I'd ever actually WANT to do this." Judy said to Nick.

"Well Carrots, having me drive will do that to you." Nick replied. He then thought of an idea. "Hey! Let's make this fun. You take this side of the street and I'll take that side and I'll bet I can serve more tickets than you!"

Judy laughed. "HA! It's on! I'm way better at this than you!"

"Great!" Nick replied. "Winner buys the loser lunch. See you!" and he took off across the street."

Judy just realized she got tricked. "Wait, what?! That's not how betting works! Nick! Get back here! No! Don't put quarters into the meter! Nick I'm not buying you lunch like this! Nick? NIIICK!"

THE END (FOR NOW)

Nick and Judy will return to bust some thieving ghosts in the short story. "The Case of The Haunted Convenience Store". Then, the Big Cheese Saga continues in "A Hole in The Wall."

 **Next Chapter: Epilogue, Final Notes and A Deleted Scene**


	15. Chapter 15: Epilogue, Notes, and More

**Chapter 15: Epilogue, Notes and A Deleted Scene**

Epilogue: A Chilling Conclusion

Nick had a smile on his face. But it wasn't the grin of a con he just pulled or a flirtatious smirk. This was one of fear. Fear for himself and fear for Judy as their legs dangled in the air.

"S-S-So you see sir. W-We did not come to accuse you of anything!"

"N-No!" Judy added while in fear of her life. "In fact, we came just to talk and clear your name of any wrongdoing!"

Nick and Judy had a good reason to be afraid as they were being held up high by a polar bear courtesy of Mr. Big who was watching from his tiny chair on top of his table. The trap door was open with the freezing water below and Nick and Judy were looking to be iced at any second.

The shrew boss glared at them through his bushy eyebrows. He softly mumbled to them."You come to my house uninvited and accuse me of possibly being this 'Big Cheese' person? You two shame me. I thought you were better than that. I thought we were family."

"We ARE family!" Judy squealed nervously. "We wanted to make sure the ZPD didn't accuse you of anything and to keep your record clean! We wouldn't want anything to happen to the grandfather of my goddaughter!"

"Y-Yeah! Plus, if they snooped around, they'd know me and Judy were involved with a mob boss!" Nick nervously added.

Judy shushed him. "Shut up Nick!"

Just then, Fru Fru came bursting in. She was once again pregnant and on her third child in under a year. "Wait! Wait!" She yelled. "Are you really going to ice them daddy?"

"Daddy has to sweetie." Mr. Big responded. "They have shamed me."

Fru Fru gave it some thought. "Well...I guess that's okay."

"WHAT?!" Judy screamed.

Fru Fru pointed an accusing finger at Judy. "YOU didn't attend your own goddaughter's baby shower!"

Judy was starting to shake in fear. "I-I-I couldn't! It was in Little Rodentia and I couldn't fit into the building! Please, Fru Fru!"

Fru Fru folded her arms and pouted. "That's no excuse! Daddy?...Ice 'Em!"

"With pleasure dear." Mr. Big replied and he raised his hand about to give the order. Judy and Nick were begging for their lives.

Just then, Mr. Big and Fru Fru burst out in laughter. Nick and Judy were confused.

"We got you good! We're just messing with you!" Mr. Big chuckled.

" _We got you! We got you!_ " Fru Fru sang and danced around.

Mr Big then gestured over to the polar bears. "Boys, put them down and shut the hole. They're family."

The polar bears gently put down Nick and Judy. Judy was still a nervous wreck. "HAAA ha-ha! Y-Yes! You certainly got us!"

Fru Fru was laughing out loud. "You should'a seen the looks on yer faces!" She then paused to point at Nick. "Oh my Gawd! Mr. Wilde. Your pan-"

Nick quickly blurted out "A BIG FISH JUMPED OUT OF THE HOLE AND SPLASHED WATER ON MY PANTS!"

Fru Fru didn't believe him. "I was standing right here and.."

Mr. Big interrupted. "Sweetie. If the man said a fish splashed his pants, then that's what happened. Save him his dignity."

"Umm..thank you sir." Nick replied embarrassingly.

Mr. Big then turned his attention to Judy. "Now then, what can you tell me of this 'Big Cheese' person?"

Judy stood up and leaned towards the shrew. "Well sir, all we have is his name. We also know that he's been using rodents for small, petty crimes as a test of loyalty."

"My friend Finnick said that whatever he has planned will be within a month and it's going to be real bad for all of Zootopia!" Nick added.

Mr. Big thought it over. "This would be bad for all of us. I'd recommend questioning the bats."

"The bats?" Judy asked.

"Yes. They are the main connection to the rodent underground. All species have some bad eggs and the rodent gangs tend to have connections with the bats in the Nocturnal district. Arrest a few on whatever charges you can and talk to them."

Nick looked concerned. "We can't. We're technically not on the case and stuck on parking duty, but we will give this information to the ZPD. Discreetly and without any mention of you of course."

"Of course." Mr. Big replied. "However,you two are a great team. I fear for this city if it's left up to others to solve."

Judy looked a bit insulted. "I have great faith in the ZPD."

Mr. Big frowned. "I wish I could say the same."

 **Lessons Learned**

While I've done fan comics and comic scripts, this is my first narrative work. As such, I felt like I learned quite a bit along the way and I'm still learning as I go.

For one thing, trying to describe the world should be through narration and not brought up on some sidebar thing. The first chapter was also too short without much detail. I ended up really hating it so I took time to completely rewrite it.

I also learned that even when you have an idea for a beginning, middle and end that a lot of times, other ideas can suddenly pop in and change the emotions of what you planned to write. The fallout between Finnick and Nick, plus Nick and Judy's discussion of their friendship and WHY they decided to remain friends was not in my original draft of the story. It was mainly Judy having to put up with Nick's horrible driving and the Giraffe Soccer climax to help show the crazy scale of the world. Now, I've got a bit of a saga going on that I originally didn't plan and have about 5 stories leading up to the big climax. BTW, the next story will be barely related outside of Harold Housecat making a return, but it's a short, funny story I've had in my head for awhile.

I also looked at other fanfics to learn that people tend to like shorter paragraphs and that chapters shouldn't be TOO long. I'd like to keep it around 1500 words per chapter, but sometimes it went up to around 2500.

I'm also, not happy with the "'Blah, blah, blah.' Nick said. 'Blah, blah, blah.' Judy replied." way I'm writing, but I'm not sure how to do it better. I need to be more descriptive of emotions and actions I think.

 **Deleted Scene from Chapter 14**

 **Author's Note: One of the things I wanted to do was give a bit more life to the ZPD. I wanted to put a bit more focus on Clawhauser, but near the end it was getting in the way of the main story and while I like the idea of giving Clawhuaser a GF in Fangmeyer including giving her a name and developing her character, it wasn't important to the main story or even the overall arc. I might explore it again sometime, but now is not it.**

 **Not only that, but I almost forgot to address Nick taking that photo and wanted to wrap up Clawhauser's fan fic stuff.**

As Judy and Nick were walking out the station to enjoy their day off, Judy's ears perked up as she heard a girlish squeal. "EEEEEE!" It was ZPD's two biggest gossip queens, Officers Clawhauser and Fangmeyer were busy chatting away. Judy stopped before exiting. Even though she was a good fifty feet from the desk, her hypersensitive ears could pick up every word of their conversation and her and Nick's names were involved in their chat.

"You should have seen it Benny!" Fangmeyer said while leaning against Clawhauser's desk. "She was crying and they were all wrapped up together in their emergency towels. It was adorable! Even the EMT's couldn't pull her off of him!"

"EEEEEE!" Clawhauser squealed. "It's so obvious they're mad for each other! Why don't they just tell everyone?!"

"I know, right?" Fangmeyer added. "Maybe she's just too shy."

"Or maybe we're just best friends. " Judy said from behind.

"EEEK!" The cheetah and Bengal tiger both squeaked.

Judy scorned Ben and Sasha "How dare you two talk about us behind our back! My relationship with Nick is one of a close friendship and is none of your business! You wouldn't see me and Nick gossiping about our fellow officers like you two, would we Nick?"

"I plead the fifth." Nick is well aware of his chat with Judy about McHorn and Pennington two days before. "Besides, Judy is like a little sister to me!"

"Right!" Judy said. Wondering where this was going.

"Also, I'm twice her size."

"...Yeah"

"I'm almost a decade older than her."

"...Uh-Hunh." Judy's ears were starting to come down.

"We can't have children and bunnies are all about big families. Right?"

"...Right." Judy said in a depressed state.

"Now, what about you two?" Nick said pointing at Clawhauser and Fangmeyer.

"US?!" They said pointing at each other.

"Yeah! You two are best friends. I see you two chatting here all the time and Sasha's the only person I've seen Ben allow to take a doughnut without making a fuss. I think there's some chemistry going on here!"

Clawhauser was taken back. "Ummm...well...I let other people take donuts!"

"Oh really?" Nick goes to take a doughnut from Ben's box only for Ben to hiss at him and swat his hand.

"Anyway, me and Carrots should get to enjoying our day off. You two should totally date! Then you could gossip about yourselves!" Nick waved goodbye and him and Judy left.

Fangmeyer looked over at Clawhauser. "Well, I'm not anything tonight. Dinner and a movie?" She said with a flirtatious smile and a wink.

Clawhausers jaw dropped. His tail wagged 100 miles and hour. "S-Sure! I'd love to! Are we really doing this?!"

"Yes!" Sasha screamed excitedly.

They both squealed together. "EEEEE!"

 **Author's Note: Nick did apologize to Judy for the things he said about her about why they can't date just before meeting Yax. I had to re-do that dialogue though.**


End file.
